Ticket sales at Australian cinemas plunged to a new low last weekend as coronavirus-wary audiences ignored almost all the new releases.
'Kung Fu Panda 4' took the top spot at the Australian box office from 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' after its box office take lifted 8 per cent to $3.67 million in its second weekend.
Quentin Tarantino’s ninth movie 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' posted the biggest opening of his career in Australia last weekend, emulating its US success.
In a remarkable result, four Australian films - 'The Dry', 'Penguin Bloom', 'High Ground' and 'Occupation: Rainfall' - took home almost 50 per cent of the national box office last weekend.
The theatrical success of 'Barbie', 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' and 'Oppenheimer' helped propel the Australian box office to its best year since the pandemic in 2023, though it still trailed pre-2019 levels.
There was a lull in Australian films released theatrically in June so the total grosses for local titles this year has ticked up to only $42.95 million.
The Australian films released theatrically so far this year have grossed $42.6 million – nearly double the meagre 2016 calendar year total of $24.1 million.
The records smashed by doco 'John Farnham: Finding the Voice' have proven that Australians will still come out in numbers to see local stories on the big screen, and there is significant optimism among exhibitors about the commercial potential of 'Force of Nature: The Dry 2'. However, broadly the year so far has been a very slow one for Australian films at the box office.