Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy isn’t inspiring the same kind of fan frenzy in Australia as in the US, judging by the opening weekend.
The intergalactic comedy-adventure starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper disguised as a feisty raccoon rang up $6.5 million last weekend.
Adding the prior weekend’s previews, the Disney release has taken $8.8 million, a nice chunk of change but pro-rata below the US debut of $US94.3 million, which was the third biggest of the year behind Transformers: Age of Extinction's $97.5 million and Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s $95 million.
Nationwide takings in Oz improved only marginally to $14.5 million, up from the previous frame’s $14.2 million, according to Rentrak's estimates.
Luc Besson’s action/sci-fier Lucy withstood the guardians’ invasion pretty well, dropping by 45% to $2.5 million, which propels the 11-day tally to $8.7 million.
Disney staged further previews of Lasse Hallström’s The Hundred-Foot Journey, cooking up $683,000 at the weekend and $828,000 thus far. That bodes well for the romantic drama about a family of new Indian immigrants in France who open a restaurant across the road from a Michelin one-star, starring Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon and Helen Mirren.
Rob Reiner’s And So it Goes has an appealing cast in Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton in a rom-com about the clash between an obnoxious and misanthropic widowed real estate guy and a widow/aspiring cabaret singer. However its mediocre $462,000 debut plus $98,000 from seniors’ club previews was no great surprise in light of the skimpy $13.3 million US takings.
Anton Corbijn’s spy drama A Most Wanted Man eased by 23% to $240,000 in its second outing on 45 screens, banking a solid $672,000 so far.
Monty Python Live (Mostly) rustled up $225,000 in encore screenings on 124 screens after last Wednesday’s premiere for a total of $449,000, which suggests the Python fan club has diminished over the years.
John Carney’s Begin Again, a musical comedy-drama starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, platformed in Melbourne and Sydney and in limited sneaks in other cities with a promising $178,000 on 41 screens, $223,000 with earlier previews, and will broaden in the next two weeks.
Word-of-mouth hasn’t kicked in for Australian apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours, which plunged by 62% to $79,000, scoring $384,000 in 11 days.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE Aug 7-10
|
|
Title |
Week/ Screens |
Box Office |
% +- |
Total
|
|
1 |
Guardians of the Galaxy |
1/586 |
$6,552,690 |
NA |
$8,872,826 |
|
2 |
Lucy |
2/339 |
2,581,031 |
-45 |
8,725,890 |
|
3 |
The Hundred-Foot Journey |
PV/243 |
683,601 |
NA |
827,929 |
|
4 |
Hercules |
3/260 |
681,201 |
-54 |
7,181,892 |
|
5 |
And So It Goes |
1/189 |
462,035 |
NA |
513,472 |
|
6 |
Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie |
3/226 |
447,048 |
-36 |
4,178,204 |
|
7 |
Sex Tape |
4/205 |
444,928 |
-43 |
6,702,239 |
|
8 |
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes |
5/134 |
438,103 |
-51 |
17,698,890 |
|
9 |
Deliver Us From Evil |
3/146 |
290,569 |
-46 |
2,338,142 |
|
10 |
A Most Wanted Man |
2/46 |
239,988 |
-23 |
672,157 |
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia