The sixth installment of the X-Men franchise, The Wolverine powered the Australian box-office last weekend, raking in $6.1 million.
While that’s a strong opening, it’s below the $6.6 million debut for X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009.
In the US, the Australian-shot Hugh Jackman starrer fetched $US53 million, well below 20th Century Fox’s projections. “We didn’t expect this either,” a Fox rep told Deadline.com . “But there have been times before when audience fatigue from the summer sets in.”
Given the competition from the mutants, James Wan’s The Conjuring had an astoundingly strong hold, dipping by just 10% in its second weekend, which suggests word-of-mouth is helping to drive ticket sales. The supernatural thriller conjured up $1.6 million, bringing its total to $4.1 million.
Raunchy Apocalyptic horror- comedy This Is the End fell by a more typical 45% to $1.3 million in its second round, making $5.1 million to date.
Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra, which stars Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson, rang up a fine $605,000 on 104 screens.
In limited release, Best of Luck, a Punjabi romantic and action based movie directed by Sunny Sidhu and Rohit Saini, drummed up a mediocre $77,000 on 24 screens.
SDU: Sex Duties Unit, a Hong Kong caper about members of an elite paramilitary tactical unit who head to Macau for a weekend of debauchery, took a lively $40,000 at seven locations.
What’s in a Name? a French comedy that features Patrick Bruel as a successful forty-something approaching fatherhood who causes an uproar in the family when he announces the name he’s chosen for his future offspring, fetched an unexciting $18,000 at seven cinemas.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE July 25-28
|
|
Title |
Week/ Screens |
Box Office |
% +- |
Total
|
|
1 |
The Wolverine |
1/578 |
$6,112,500 |
NA |
$6,112,500 |
|
2 |
The Heat |
3/290 |
1,774,179 |
-37 |
10,981,126 |
|
3 |
The Conjuring |
2/140 |
1,614,953 |
-10 |
4,112,211 |
|
4 |
This is the End |
2/236 |
1,342,658 |
-45 |
5,167,118 |
|
5 |
Pacific Rim |
3/313 |
688,121 |
-58 |
6,943,428 |
|
6 |
Despicable Me 2 |
6/259 |
680,248 |
-59 |
33,782,499 |
|
7 |
Behind the Candelabra |
1/104 |
604,913 |
NA |
626,489 |
|
8 |
Man of Steel |
5/249 |
478,630 |
-58 |
23,668,132 |
|
9 |
The Lone Ranger |
4/278 |
477,234 |
-58 |
9,916,674 |
|
10 |
Monsters University |
6/217 |
367,378 |
-66 |
23,423,528 |
Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia