• Weekend box office dips below $10m for only second time in 2015
Cinema-goers backed off a little on the weekend with the lack of a big shiny new release to lure them into multiplexes. For only the second time this year the takings of the top 20 movies failed to crack $10m. It was the second lowest combined box office haul of the year with $9.61m, just ahead of a weekend in mid-March when $8.39m changed hands at cinemas around the country.
Amy Schumer was the box office hero for a second weekend with Trainwreck on $2.10m after two weekends of previews and two weekends on full release adding up to a total to-date of $9.41m.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation climbed from #3 to #2 on its third weekend with $1.71m and a total just passing $12m.
The only significant new release on the weekend was Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. with $1.64m and a screen average of $5,621 – the best of the weekend. The casting of relative newcomers to portray Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) possibly limited the appeal to some audiences.
Rounding out the top five was The Fantastic Four with 1.05m ($4.38m to-date) and Last Cab To Darwin with $1.01m ($3.02m).
This could very well be the last weekend Jurassic World appears on the chart. It sits at #18 with a weekend take of $52,000 which means it might just fall short of $53m. If it doesn’t pass $53.25m (The Avengers), Jurassic World will settle as the fourth highest-grossing Australian film of all time.