Boosted by the school vacation and word of mouth, Stuart McDonald’s Oddball flew through its second weekend, beating two new high-profile Hollywood films.
Roadshow’s rustic comedy featuring Shane Jacobson, Sarah Snook, Alan Tudyk and a fluffy blonde maremma whistled up nearly $1.8 million on 293 screens (jumping by 82 per cent), elevating its tally to a terrific $4.5 million.
That was ahead of Roadshow’s Sicario, the violent Mexican drug cartel thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve and featuring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin. Sicario scored nearly $1.7 million on 228 screens and $2.1 million including the previous week’s advance screenings, a good result for an MA15+ rated film.
Universal’s The Visit, a found footage horror/comedy featuring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould and Deanna Dunagan, unearthed a middling $1.1 million in its first weekend on 180 screens. That genre typically is not as appealing here as it is in the US, where writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's film has racked up a solid but not stellar $US53.2 million after its third outing.
Among other Aussie titles in release, Studiocanal’s Blinky Bill: The Movie fetched $548,000 in its second weekend, advancing to $1.37 million, Icon’s Last Cab to Darwin topped $7 million after pocketing $86,000 in its eighth stanza, and Transmission's Holding the Man reached $1.08 million in its fifth.
Tony Ayres’ Cut Snake was given a limited release by eOne, taking $16,200 on six screens with previews.
Nationwide B.O. takings leapt by 32 per cent to $15.5 million last weekend, according to Rentrak’s estimate, as Universal’s Everest stayed on top of the mountain, banking $2.2 million in its second weekend as its total hit $7 million.
Sony’s Pixels is the No. 1 title amongst families, drawing $2.1 million in its third caper and climbing to $8.2 million.
Ahead of its October 9 US debut, Roadshow/Warner Bros. launched Joe Wright’s live action fantasy Pan, which stars Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Garrett Hedlund and Rooney Mara on 227 screens, generating a decent $2.1 million with previews.
Fox’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials raced to $10.4 million after pocketing $1.7 million in its third chapter.
The stand-out among the foreign-language entries, Chinese slapstick comedy Lost in Hong Kong found an eye-popping $441,000 on just 11 screens, released by Magnum Films. Directed by Zheng Xu, the third film in a franchise that started with Lost In Journey and continued with Lost in Thailand minted $US70.6 million in its first two days in China, heading to $100 million in three days.
Veteran, a South Korean cop action thriller directed by Ryoo Seung-Wan, entered with a potent $117,000 on 13 screens.
Sharmill’s London Road, a docu-musical which documents the events of 2006 when the rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women, starring Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman, misfired with $37,000 on 21 screens.
Sony’s coming-of-age drama The Diary of a Teenage Girl got some glowing reviews but lucked out with $21,000 on 10 screens and $50,000 with previews.