The Lady in the Van.
Maggie Smith beat all comers at the local box office last week, leaving upstarts Grimsby and Deadpool in her wake as The Lady in the Van pulled in more than $1.6 million over the weekend.
That's a mere twenty-one percent drop from last week. The film, directed by Nicholas Hytner, has now rung up $5.1 million in Australia in two weeks.
Sacha Baron Cohen's Grimsby was next best, debuting on 247 screens for and making more than $1.5 million.
Grimsby narrowly pipped Deadpool, now in its fifth week and going strong on 267 screens.
The Ryan Reynolds-starring superhero comedy dropped thirty-eight percent over the weekend, and is about to crack $40 million at the local BO.
Paramount's 10 Cloverfield Lane, produced by J.J. Abrams, debuted on 212 screens, with a per-cinema average of $6,489 – higher per-screen than The Lady in the Van, Deadpool and Grimsby.
The Dan Trachtenberg-directed thriller made over $1.4 million in its opening weekend off the back of strong reviews and a canny campaign that intrigued punters.
WB's How To Be Single, starring Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson, came in fifth, currently on 256 screens after four weeks. The comedy dropped thirty-five percent to ring up $862,515 at the weekend BO, bringing its total to $9.3 million.
In previews at 157 locations, Disney's Zootopia, already a huge hit in the States, raked in $537,271 from Friday to Sunday.
The highest per-cinema averages belonged to two films debuting at the local BO – Rajiv Dhingra's Love Punjab and another Punjabi film, Gippy Grewal's Ardaas.
On 27 screens, Love Punjab pulled in $406,601 – $15,059 per location, compared to The Lady in the Van's $6,183.
Ardaas debuted on fifteen screens, and had a similarly whopping per-cinema average of $15,184, for a cume of $213,252.
The Coens' Hail, Caesar! has made $3.1 million in three weeks, while holdovers Spotlight and Brooklyn remained strongs after seven and five weeks in cinemas respectively.
Spotlight dropped twenty-five percent to bring its total to over $4.8 million, while Brooklyn dropped even less – twenty-three percent – to bring its pot to $5.1 million.
Alex Proyas' Gods of Egypt has made $2.2 million in three weeks, while John Hillcoat's Triple 9 has made $828,460 after two.
Craig Gillespie's The Finest Hours has made a measly $425,254 after two weeks. The film will cost Disney $75 million, CEO Bob Iger told investors last week – though the studio won't exactly struggle to absorb it.
In previews on fifty-five screens, Simon Stone's The Daughter made $116,400 – a per-cinema average of $2,080.