By Simon de Bruyn
Last Ride, made for $4 million and starring Hugo Weaving, made $76,500 on its opening weekend, according to box office figures.
The film is Madman Entertainment’s third Australian release of 2009, after Eric Bana’s documentary Love the Beast took $777,000 and the re-release of Wake in Fright opened strongly last week.
According to MPDAA figures, Last Ride took a per screen average of $4,779 across 16 screens. Including previews, the film has taken a total of $94,700.
Meanwhile, smaller budgeted rodeo drama Shadows of the Past, took $4,477 on four screens across regional NSW; in Tamworth, Orange, Wagga Wagga and at the Blackwater International Coal Centre.
The drama was made for $820,000 with no government funding and without a local distributor on board. The filmmakers are currently negotiating a North American DVD deal.
Disgrace took a further $130,600 in its third weekend, while Wake in Fright posted a further $33,000 on five screens, for a new total of $95,500.
In its second weekend, Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s documentary about actor Jack Charles – Bastardy – took just under $6,000 on four screens. New Australian theatrical doco The Burning Season opens in Brisbane this week.
Other local titles Samson and Delilah, My Year Without Sex and Mary and Max are still in cinemas.