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Tom Hanks to the rescue

The charismatic Tom Hanks in the title role of high seas thriller Captain Phillips helped inject life into the flagging Australian box office last weekend.

The Paul Greengrass-directed saga based on the true story of the 2009 hijacking of a US container ship by Somali pirates fetched $2.16 million. That’s a sturdy figure for a film that appeals to mature audiences who don’t tend to rush out to see films on the opening weekend.

Captain Phillips ended the three-week reign by Gravity, which eased by just 20% to $1.9 million, boosting its takings to a stellar $15 million, en route to a probable final tally of around $20 million.

Richard Curtis’ time-travelling comedy/drama About Time held stoically, down by just 15% to $1.4 million, which brings its earnings to $4.3 million in 11 days.

In its second weekend the Hugh Jackman starrer Prisoners fell by 28% to $791,000, advancing to a decent $2.3 million.

Machete Kills, the sequel to Robert Rodriguez’ 2010 action comedy Machete, was dead-on-arrival, taking $106,000 on 65 screens. It seems audiences were uninterested in the tale featuring Danny Trejo as a Mexican secret agent.

The 91 films in current release collectively clocked up $9.2 million last weekend, just 2% up on the prior weekend, so business overall is far from robust.

Steve Coogan’s turn as a foot-in-mouth radio announcer in Alan Partridge: Alpha Male, fell flat as the spoof took $75,000 on 22 screens, and $101,000 including previews.

In the art house market, Renoir, the biopic of the French painter, opened with a dismal $22,000 on nine screens, $84,000 with previews, faring better than Blancanieves, the critically-acclaimed, silent black-and-white Spanish riff on Snow White, which made $18,000 on 15.

Tim Winton’s The Turning crossed the $1 million milestone, collecting $60,000, off 20%, in its fifth frame.

Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road rang up $50,000 in its second outing on 16 screens,  a 17% drop indicating good word-of-mouth, propelling its total to $184,000.

      WEEKEND BOX OFFICE Oct 24-27

 

 

 

Title

 

Week/ Screens

 

Box Office

 

% +-

 

Total

 

1

Captain Phillips

1/339

$2,166,434

NA

$2,212,761

2

Gravity

4/488

1,920,909

-20

15,065,509

3

About Time

2/206

1,429,837

-15

4,336,897

4

Prisoners

2/204

791,258

-28

2,327,762

5

2 Guns

3/234

631,147

-34

4,302,950

6

Grown Ups 2

5/192

374,885

-28

10,518,461

7

Rush

4/174

295,284

-42

3,893,104

8

Turbo

6/187

194,785

-30

12,505,527

9

The Family

3/144

171,388

-41

1,289,609

10

Blue Jasmine

7/102

156,869

-22

5,637,515

Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia