Despite the production issues that it has faced including major delays due to negative fan reactions to the main character’s design, Sonic the Hedgehog has enjoyed a good first week of release finishing #1 with close to $4m in revenue.
It was a busy week for new releases with two other films joining the top five in Emma and Fantasy Island which entered at #4 and #5 respectively in their first week of release.
The films to drop out of the top five were Bad Boys for Life which has made $17.59m over five weeks and the war film Midway making $2.96m over the last three weeks.
Off the back of the Academy Awards, a few films have seen an uptick including the winner for Best Picture- Parasite which went from #15 to #7 making $749,072 which is 34 weeks after its first week of release.
Overall, the Australian box office has increased by 10% on the prior weekend making $14.77m.
#1 Sonic the Hedgehog $3.87m
The famous video game character has found his way to the big screen opposite antagonist Doctor Robotnik played by Jim Carey as the film averaged $10,626 on 365 screens.
#2 Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) $2.59m
In its second week of release, the DC film drops to #2 at the Australian box office but has still managed to make over $2m as it only declines by 33% on its previous weekends total. The film averaged $8,213 on 316 screens as it has brought its total to $7.93m.
#3 1917 $1.20m
After six weeks the film is still performing strongly with the Golden Globe winners total sitting at $20.60m. This past weekend the Sam Mendes directed film declined only 23% as it averaged $3,889 on 310 screens.
#4 Emma $1.07m
The film based on the 1815 novel of the same name by Jane Austen has made it into the top five in its first week of release after averaging $3,551 on 302 screens.
#5 Fantasy Island $1m
The horror film based on 1977 television series of the same name has brought a TV classic back to life and it finds itself in the top five this week. The film averaged $4,616 on 217 screens.