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Tomorrow takes top spot at box office with $3.8m opening weekend

By Brendan Swift

Local action-thriller Tomorrow, When the War Began has posted the third biggest ever box office opening weekend for an Australian film behind Happy Feet and Australia.

Stuart Beattie's directorial debut grossed $3.86 million in its first four days across 342 screens. That ranked it as the most popular film over the weekend and also gave it the highest screen average ($11,293) of any widespread release.

The film was also the highest grossing in New Zealand where it took $NZ358,653 over the weekend, making it the second biggest ever four-day result for an Australian film.

Paramount Pictures Australia managing director and vice president Australia/New Zealand Mike Selwyn said: "We are particularly pleased with the strong regional and country results to go with the excellent figures in metro and city areas and we are looking forward to the word of mouth reaching out to all audiences and strong results right through into the school holidays to help set up the franchise."

The film is based on the John Marsden classic and tells the story of a group of teenagers who, returning from a holiday in remote Australia, find their country has been invaded. They are forced to band together and defend their country against an unknown force.

Meanwhile, New Zealand film Boy has continued its strong run, dropping just 9 per cent in its second weekend with $250,413. The film, which is already the highest grossing NZ film in history, was shown across 41 screens resulting in a screen average of $6108.

The Tumbler, which opened at Sydney's Chauvel cinema over the weekend, took just $203. The film, which stars Gary Sweet, is being distributed by Peter Castaldi's Pack Screen simultaneously in cinemas, online and on DVD.

In North America, last year's top grossing Australian film Mao's Last Dancer has reached almost $US1.79 million while Animal Kingdom has taken $US573,000, according to Box Office Mojo.

 

 Australasian films at the local box office 2010

Film
 Budget
 Distributor
 Opening w/e
 Box Office
Bran Nue Dae
$6.5m
Roadshow
$1,612,102
$7,565,476
The Kings of Mykonos
$6m est.
Paramount/Transmission
$1,828,902
$4,896,679
Animal Kingdom
$5m est.
Madman
$604,139
$4,870,107
Tomorrow …
$27m est.
Paramount
$3,862,193
$3,898,547
Beneath Hill 60
$9.5m
Paramount/Transmission
$548,694
$3,209,471
Daybreakers
$20m est.
Hoyts
$1,064,244
$2,448,050
I Love You Too
$6m
Roadshow
$113,483
$2,361,411
Bright Star
$16.7m est.
Roadshow/Hopscotch
$2,157,601
The Waiting City
$2m est.
Hopscotch
$136,892
$658,236
Matching Jack
$5m est.
Fox
$258,011
$764,389
South Solitary
$6.5m
Icon
$132,240
$561,386
Boy
Paramount/Transmission
$275,026
$725,584
Accidents Happen
$6.5m est.
Hopscotch
$39,721
$157,131
Love, Lust & Lies
Beyond Entertainment
$20,674
$136,595
Second Hand Wedding
Potential/Arkles
$13,680
$79,967
Lou
Kojo Pictures
$27,371
$59,505
Girl Clock!
$1m
Self-distributed
$8,857
$43,434
Separation City
$4.8m
Hoyts
$15,278
$32,159
Triangle
$8m est.
Icon
$6,081
$11,282
Going Vertical
The Pack/Blue Sea Films
$3,879
$9,699
Savages Crossing
$3.5m
MediaKin/GAP
$4,432
$8,651
The Nothing Men
Anchor Bay Films
$4,518
$6,679
Playing For Charlie
$1.2m
The Pack
$2,665
$5,867
The Horseman
$500,000
Umbrella Entertainment
$2,270
$3,328
The Tumbler
The Pack
$203
$203
 Source: MPDAA, INSIDEFILM. Separation City, Second Hand Wedding and Boy are NZ films. Bright Star released Dec 26, 2009; tally does not include 2009 box office.