There was no contest for the No. 1 title in Australia last weekend: The Hangover Part III dominated ticket sales, although the opening was about 20 per cent less than the second edition.
Its $8.9 million haul on 496 screens stands in stark contrast to the raucous comedy’s relatively subdued debut in the US, where it raked in an estimated $US42.4 million. One obvious reason for the discrepancy: In Oz the film had zero competition, unlike the US where it was trounced by fellow opener Fast & Furious 6, which amassed about $98.4 million. In the US The Great Gatsby held well in its third frame, ascending to $118 million.
The comedy starring Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms single-handedly boosted the top 20 titles’ weekend takings by 51 per cent to $14.3 million. In Australia Fast & Furious was set to open last Thursday but Universal shifted it to June 6 after Warner Bros. plunked Hangover on that date.
There was an in-built franchise for the final edition of Hangover, the first two chapters having earned $54 million. Hence it probably wasn’t the wisest time to launch Dead Man Down, the male-skewing New York-set thriller starring Dominic Cooper, Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace and Terrence Howard. It was D.O.A.
In the speciality area, Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist fetched $133,000 on 30 screens in its debut, posting a decent per-screen average of $4,437. Critics sparked to the story of a young Pakistani man who chases corporate success on Wall Street and finds himself caught between his American Dream, a hostage crisis and the call of his family's homeland.
Graph: Weekend Box Office May 23-26
|
|
Title |
Week/ Screens |
Box Office |
% +- |
Total
|
|
1 |
The Hangover Part III |
1/496 |
$8,926,674 |
NA |
$8,926,674 |
|
2 |
Star Trek Into Darkness |
3/461 |
1,819,303 |
-43 |
12,729,903 |
|
3 |
Iron Man 3 |
5/250 |
1,236,985 |
-43 |
36,939,327 |
|
4 |
The Call |
2/181 |
412,898 |
-53 |
1,581,626 |
|
5 |
The Place Beyond the Pines |
3/67 |
315,655 |
-40 |
2,099,383 |
|
6 |
Snitch |
2/185 |
314,096 |
-57 |
1,254,289 |
|
7 |
The Big Wedding |
4/214 |
280,925 |
-54 |
4,524,334 |
|
8 |
Dead Man Down |
1/115 |
199,726 |
NA |
199,726 |
|
9 |
The Reluctant Fundamentalist |
1/30 |
133,116 |
NA |
133,116 |
|
10 |
The Croods |
9/154 |
130,879 |
-22 |
24,784,395 |
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia