Ad Astra made its Australian debut on 364 screens, bringing in a total of $1,947,761 in its first weekend. That’s a tasty screen average of $5,351, but the space flick didn’t do quite so astronomically as Downton Abbey, which retained its place at #1 by almost $300,000, despite a slew of new releases. Showing on 452 screens this weekend, down from 502 last weekend, the period drama brought in $2,256,068 over the weekend.
IT: Chapter 2 is still hanging out at #3, and its ticket sales are looking strong; the killer clown showed on 305 screens this weekend, down from 363, and it brought in a screen average of $4,580.
Downton Abbey and Ad Astra aside, it’s a fairly scandalous Top 5 in the box office; on top of IT’s MA15+ rating, Good Boys clocks in at MA15+ for strong crude sexual content, crude language, and drug use, a pretty rough ride, for a film about tweens. Nevertheless, the comedy brought in a screen average of $5,601 across 227 screens. It might not be the Superbad-level of success that Rogen may have been gunning for, but it beat out R18+ Rambo: Last Blood for the #4 spot by a significant margin. Rambo brought in an average of $3,714 over 263 screens in its first weekend, for an overall taking of $976,901, compared to Good Boys’ weekend overall of $1,271,466.
The Angry Birds Movie 2 dropped from #3 to #6, still bringing in a screen average of $2,565 over 359 screens, amounting to a contribution of $920,750 to its overall takings of just over $2.7 million. It’s closely followed by two kid-friendly features in Abominable, which rode the school holidays wave into a screen average of $3,309 across 277 screens in its first week in the cinema, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which premiered on 264 screens to a screen average of $277.
The only Australian flick still hanging on in the wide release box office charts is MIFF-opener, The Australian Dream, which brought in a modest $967 over 40 screens. The total weekend taking of $38,667 was enough to bump the documentary’s overall takings over a million; they currently stand at $1,022,074.
In limited release, Nikka Zaildar 3 displaced Dream Girl in the number one spot, bringing in a screen average of $4,783 over 33 screens. Dream Girl is still sitting pretty at #2, however, and brought in a screen average of $3,449 over 34 screens. Kaappaan also debuted at #3, bringing in a decent $86,807 across 28 screens, for an average of $3,100.
Following this trio of Bollywood blockbusters is Margaret Atwood: Live in Cinemas. This live event celebrates the launch of The Testaments, long-awaited sequel to her lauded novel, The Handmaid Tale. For a literary live event of readings and discussion, this piece did great; it debuted on 30 screens, and brought in $75,205 overall, for a screen average of $2,507.
Apart from that, not much is new in limited release; The Nightingale is sticking around at #7, and brought in an average of $1,192 across 23 screens over the weekend. Bonsai Films’ Animals is sitting at #15, down from #12 last week, and brought in a neat $1000 over its meagre nine screens for a total of $70,013 in two weeks. Australian/NZ faith trekker’s documentary Camino Skies (Limelight) is still hanging in there after eight weeks, still on 21 screens for a total of $296,948. Angel of Mine is struggling after three weeks, down to six screens this weekend (31 last weekend), for a total of $68,184.
But here’s a final twist for you: Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut has jumped up from #19 to #12 in its ninth week in cinemas, bringing in a screen average of $5,540 across only two screens. I guess this really is the film that will never die.
