By Simon de Bruyn
After playing in the Official Competition of the Sydney Film Festival, Disgrace opened over the weekend and took $209,000 from Thursday to Sunday.
The result put the Icon-distributed film at the top of the limited release charts, although the result was not strong enough to place the film in the top 10 overall.
Playing on 24 screens, the $10 million film took an average of $8,700 per screen. The opening was the third highest for an Australian film this year, behind Love the Beast and Mary and Max.
Samson and Delilah has started to slow down slightly, falling 29 per cent in its seventh weekend. The $1.6 million film took a further $147,000 on 38 screens.
My Year Without Sex held in its fourth weekend, falling 23 per cent and taking a further $74,500 for a new total of $741,000.
Comparatively, the Michael Caine drama Is Anybody There? also fell 23 per cent to take just over $76,000 on 42 screens in its third weekend.
Rodeo drama Shadows of the Past sold out its three Toowoomba screenings over the weekend to add a further $3,548 to its box office. The film opens in Blackwater, Queensland, this week and will open in Tamworth, Wagga and Orange on July 2.
Total box office for Australian films released in 2009 now stands at $6.5 million. Total budgets stand at over $45 million.
| Film | Budget | Distributor | Opening w/e | WIR | Box Office |
| Samson and Delilah | $1.6m | Para/Trans/Footprint | $ 199,163 | 7 | $ 2,232,098 |
| Mary and Max | $8m | Icon | $ 217,176 | 11 | $ 1,407,334 |
| Love the Beast | Madman | $ 241,982 | 9 | $ 777,351 | |
| The Combination | $1.169m | AFS | $ 188,054 | 11 | $ 727,586 |
| My Year Without Sex | $3.8m | Para/Trans/Footprint | $ 177,461 | 4 | $ 741,321 |
| Two Fists, One Heart | $8.5m | BVI | $ 96,999 | 2 | $ 295,500 |
| Disgrace | $10m | Icon | $ 209,014 | 1 | $ 209,014 |
| Beautiful | $2m | Kojo/Jump Street | $ 22,406 | 6 | $ 55,619 |
| Closed for Winter | $2m | Omnilab Media | $ 19,449 | 6 | $ 48,197 |
| Shadows of the Past | $ 820,000 | Summer Night | $ 13,927 | 6 | $ 31,035 |
| The Chifleys of Busby St | Ronin | $ 3,760 | 1 | $ 13,123 | |
| Crush | $2m | Filmscope/Odin’s Eye | previews | N/A | $ 13,051 |
| Salvation | Hopscotch | $ 2,262 | 1 | $ 3,182 | |
| Prey | $4m | Damage Releasing | $ 1,089 | 1 | $ 1,089 |
| TOTAL | $ 6,555,500 |
WIR = weeks in release; Bold = currently in release; Sources: MPDAA and INSIDEFILM