Denzel Washington’s films have raked in more than $4 billion at cinemas worldwide but the superstar’s latest movie was beaten in Australia last weekend by a bunch of barely known youngsters.
The Equalizer, a violent big-screen version of the 1985 TV series, which re-teamed Washington with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, rang up $2.3 million from Thursday through Sunday.
Pro-rata that was well below the US weekend debut of $US35.1 million, which ranks as the biggest September launch for an R-rated film, eclipsing Jackass: Number Two, which pulled in $29 million in 2006.
In Oz the action movie, which casts Washington as a former member of the special forces who comes out of retirement after Russian gangsters ensare a young girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), trailed the second outing of sci-fi action/adventure The Maze Runner.
A clear favourite with vacationing teenagers, The Maze Runner, which features Dylan O’Brien, Aml Ameen, Will Poulter and Kaya Scodelario, dipped by just 16% to $3 million, scoring $8.8 million in 11 days.
It was a fairly buoyant trading session as nationwide takings surged by 19% to $13.1 million, according to Rentrak’s estimates. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cruised through its third outing, grabbing $2 million, which propels its total to $13.5 million.
After a slow start, stop-motion animated pic The Boxtrolls collared $1.3 million, advancing to $2.9 million in 11 days. Kids also sought out Disney’s Planes: Fire and Rescue which made $994,000 in its second weekend and $2.7 million thus far.
Writer-director Josh Lawson's debut feature, sex comedy The Little Death, had a disappointing opening with $78,000 on 34 screens and $83,500 with previews (see separate story).
Among the specialty releases, Craig Johnson’s The Skeleton Twins, which explores the connection between twins Milo (Bill Hader) and Maggie (Kristen Wiig) despite a decade-long estrangement, took a solid $88,000 on 22 screens and $138,000 with previews.
The Admiral: Roaring Currents, a Korean epic set during the Japanese invasion of the Joseon Dynasty in the late 1600s, captured a terrific $71,000 at only four screens, and $202,000 with previews.
Daniel Schechter's Life of Crime, a kidnap caper adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, starring Mos Def, John Hawkes, Jennifer Aniston and Tim Robbins, fetched a modest $14,400 on four screens and $70,000 with sneaks.
In Bloom, a rites-of-passage drama about friendship, revenge and dysfunctional families loosely based on screenwriter and co-director Nana Ekvtimishvili’s experiences of growing up in newly independent Georgia in the early 1990s, managed just $10,000 on four screens and $33,000 with previews.
The biggest dud of the round was Land of the Bears, French director Guillaume Vincent's documentary about brown bears shot on Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, narrated by Marion Cotillard, which earned $2,800 at five screens.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE September 25-28
|
|
Title |
Week/ Screens |
Box Office |
% +- |
Total
|
|
1 |
The Maze Runner |
2/319 |
$3,008,166 |
-16 |
$8,800,568 |
|
2 |
The Equalizer |
1/303 |
2,280,426 |
NA |
2,280,426 |
|
3 |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles |
3/474 |
1,991,904 |
-13 |
13,574,308 |
|
4 |
The Boxtrolls |
2/294 |
1,288,404 |
+123 |
2,955,842 |
|
5 |
Planes: Fire and Rescue |
2/447 |
994,692 |
+60 |
2,697,968 |
|
6 |
The House of Magic |
2/192 |
578,544 |
+342 |
1,143,278 |
|
7 |
Step Up: All In |
3/209 |
482,224 |
+5 |
2,373,387 |
|
8 |
Guardians of the Galaxy |
8/123 |
438,442 |
+2 |
25,652,468 |
|
9 |
The Hundred-Foot Journey |
7/104 |
309,311 |
-17 |
11,278,668 |
|
10 |
Into the Storm |
4/164 |
235,098 |
-46 |
4,892,075 |
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia