With cinemas across the country still shut down, Mediaweek is using this time to take a look at the historical box office in Australia. This week we will be examining the top opening week totals in Australian cinematic history.
The top five is very similar to last week’s top five opening weekend rankings with only one difference with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 replacing Star Wars: The Last Jedi which finished 6th in the rankings. This difference also means that it is not a Disney shutout like the top opening weekend rankings were with Harry Potter coming from Warner Bros. which released the film in 2011.
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Box Office: Top opening weekends of all time
Another interesting note about this ranking which it shares with last weeks opening weekend ranking is the absence of the #1 film all-time film at the Australian box office Avatar which made $115.78m.
#1 Avengers Endgame, Disney, $50.13m, 2019
Disney’s 10-year Marvel project culminated in Avengers: Endgame which went on to make a total of $84.17m. The film made $2.7 billion at the international box office, and was just as strong in Australia with the film comfortably moving past several box office records in its first week of release:
• Highest opening day in cinema industry history
• Highest ever individual Wednesday / Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday gross in Industry history
• Highest ever 5 day opening weekend (Weds-Sun) – beating Avengers: Infinity War
• Highest ever 4-day weekend (Thurs-Sun) – beating Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Highest ever pre-sale total
• Highest ever opening screen count
• Highest & second highest single days of total business in industry history (Wednesday $11.46m & Thursday $11.26m)– beating Anzac Day 2018 $11.25m
#2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $38.54m, Disney, 2015
The return of Star Wars after a 12-year absence from theatres saw the film become the highest-grossing entry of the franchise. The movie was the start of the first sequel trilogy to the original three films and was the first feature film since the 2003 prequel Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The flick went on to spawn two other top 10 films on this list for opening week, weekend, and total box office. When the movie was released in 2015 it opened on the highest number of screens ever (941), and set a new record for the biggest opening day ever, the biggest opening weekend ever, and went on to make $94.01m.
#3 Avengers: Infinity War $33.97m, Disney, 2018
After an Anzac Day premiere that made $8.7m on 871 screens the film achieved the third-biggest opening day ever in Australia. The film was the highest-grossing Marvel movie at the time before being overtaken by its sequel the next year. The film went on to make a total of $62.01m.
#4 Deathly Hallows: Part 2 $29.33m, Warner Bros. 2011
The final film in the Harry Potter franchise and the only non-Disney film in the top five is also the oldest film in the rankings following a 2011 release. The film also had the #6 biggest opening weekend with $18.36m and ended up making $31.26m.
#5 The Lion King, $28.48m, Disney, 2019
The remake of the 1994 classic surpassed the $20.10m made by the original in one weekend and also eventually passed the inflation-adjusted total of $37.49m. The film opened on 930 screens, was also the #5 biggest opening weekend in Australian history with $20.53m, and went on to make $64.04m.