By Adam Coleman
Big-budget Australian vampire thriller, Daybreakers, has taken $468,319 on its second weekend at the Australian box office.
Shot in Queensland and starring Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, Daybreakers has now grossed close to $1.9 million in Australia and more than US$30 million in the US, where it opened on January 8.
Daybreakers’ American distributor, Lionsgate – a major investor in the film – released it across more than 2,500 screens in the US .
The film’s Australian distributor, Hoyts, opted for a mid-level release strategy, opening the film locally on 134 screens.
Written and directed by Queensland’s Spierig Brothers (Undead), Daybreakers recorded a screen average of $3,495 this weekend, down from its opening tally last weekend of $7,883 per screen.
Meanwhile, Indigenous musical Bran Nue Dae has continued to perform well at the Australian box office taking $259,624 on its fifth weekend.
Distributed by Roadshow Films, Bran Nue Dae opened on 231 screens on January 14 and took more than $2.5 million in its first week.
The Rachel Perkins-directed film has now grossed more than $6.5 million and surpassed 1994’s Lightning Jack to become the 32nd highest grossing local film of all time at the Australian box office.
Mel Gibson’s new thriller, Edge of Darkness took $729,206 on the weekend, taking the US film’s local tally to more than $2.6 million.