By Adam Coleman
Ana Kokkinos’ feature Blessed has taken $92,821 at the box office since opening last Thursday.
A sometimes unsettling vision of the relationship between mother and child, Blessed took $67,186 over its first weekend and has returned a screen average of $4,479 across 15 screens.
In only its second week, Charlie & Boots – the road movie featuring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson – has continued its barnstorming run at the box office, taking $1,766,018 in total to become the second highest grossing local film of the year behind Warwick Thornton’s impressive debut Samson and Delilah.
The sixth local release to pass the $1 million mark this year, the Paramount Pictures-distributed Charlie & Boots has returned a screen average of $3,194 across 181 screens.
Balibo, Robert Connolly’s political thriller about the murder of Australian journalists, is fast staking its claim to be the seventh film to break $1 million, having taken $948,837 in its fifth week at the box office.
Subdivision has ended its run at the box office after only two weeks and took $190,500 across its 66 screens.
In its 19th week, Samson & Delilah remains the top performing local release this year with $3,150,870 in takings.
The total box office takings for 2009 local releases is $14,017,933.
| Film | Budget | Distributor | Opening w/e | Weeks | Box Office |
| Samson and Delilah | $1.6m | Para/Trans/Footprint | $ 199,163 | 19 | $ 3,139,766 |
| Charlie & Boots | $9m est. | Paramount/Transmission | $ 809,279 | 2 | $ 1,766,018 |
| Mary and Max | $8m | Icon | $ 217,176 | 15 | $ 1,444,617 |
| Beautiful Kate | $6m | Roadshow | $ 273,582 | 6 | $ 1,291,491 |
| Disgrace | $10m | Icon | $ 209,014 | 13 | $ 1,152,604 |
| My Year Without Sex | $3.8m | Para/Trans/Footprint | $ 177,522 | 16 | $ 1,115,106 |
| Balibo | $4.5m | Para/Trans/Footprint | $ 206,290 | 5 | $ 948,837 |
| Love the Beast | Madman | $ 241,982 | 9 | $ 777,351 | |
| The Combination | $1.169m | AFS | $ 188,054 | 11 | $ 727,586 |
| Last Ride | $4m | Madman | $ 76,459 | 10 | $ 364,104 |
| Two Fists, One Heart | $8.5m | BVI | $ 96,999 | 2 | $ 295,500 |
| Wake in Fright | Madman | $ 25,446 | 13 | $ 289,566 | |
| Cedar Boys | $1.36m | Hoyts/Mushroom | $ 74,793 | 5 | $ 204,160 |
| Subdivision | $4m est. | BVI | $ 86,649 | 3 | $ 190,500 |
| Blessed | Icon | $ 67,186 | 1 | $ 92,821 | |
| Beautiful | $2m | Kojo/Jump Street | $ 22,406 | 6 | $ 55,619 |
| Closed for Winter | $2m | Omnilab Media | $ 19,449 | 6 | $ 53,370 |
| Shadows of the Past | $ 820,000 | Summer Night | $ 13,927 | 11 | $ 45,490 |
| Bastardy | $ 260,000 | Film Camp | $ 7,822 | 8 | $ 37,570 |
| Lake Mungo | Darclight films | $ 9,730 | 5 | $ 29,850 | |
| Lucky Country | $2m est. | Para/Trans/Footprint | $ 11,413 | 4 | $ 26,141 |
| The Burning Season | Gil Scrine/Freshwater | $ 3,848 | 5 | $ 21,017 | |
| The Chifleys of Busby St | Ronin | $ 3,760 | $ 13,658 | ||
| Crush | $2m | Filmscope/Odin’s Eye | $ 8,304 | 1 | $ 13,051 |
| Three Blind Mice | Odin’s Eye/Titan View | $ 2,988 | 3 | $ 6,729 | |
| Bad Bush | VVVF | $ 1,909 | $ 3,961 | ||
| Salvation | Hopscotch | $ 2,262 | 1 | $ 3,182 | |
| Prey | $4m | Damage Releasing | $ 1,089 | $ 1,089 |
Source: MPDAA
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