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Weekend 2nd - 5th October 2003
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With the chart full of impressive holds and even some rises amongst the charts long time performers, it was the debut of
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that captured pole position this weekend. Enjoying quite a solid bow, no doubt
with the energy of the holiday period behind it, the Stephen Norrington directed picture collected $3.08 million. Starring
Sean Connery, the film follows a collection of literary figures who are assembled to battle a mastermind who is collecting
advanced weaponry to sell to, and initiate a war between, the worlds powers. Launching on a very light 209 screens,
Gentlemen enjoyed an exceedingly hot $14,776 per theatre, easily the best average for any film this year opening in
the $2 - 3.5 million range, perhaps reflecting how undermanned its screen count was.
But with Pirates and Nemo still going strong, screen space at the moment is of course at a premium, and
The League was anything other than a sure bet so distributors can be forgiven. As mentioned a couple of weeks ago
adventure films can tend to perform very well in Australia, even if the two week old Tomb Raider 2 is defying the
trend. Arguably both films have had to endure a scorning wave of negative buzz before their releases, but The League
has the advantage of not having had a universally awful sequel before it, to kill off any chance of it being a success.
Thankfully for Connery, The League hasn't turned into another Avengers for him, having collected more than
triple the $0.9 million that the 1998 dud made through its entire run.
The opening of Gentlemen was almost identical to the launch that Bad Boys II enjoyed two weeks ago. With
the action sequel enjoying a few weeks set completely in the holidays, it will probably be hard for The League to
match its performance, that, and a fantasy film like The League is more prone to larger falls. Undeniably the
quality of the film will be a sticking point also. For Fox, the launch was similar to the $3.23 million of their own
Daredevil from late March, which went on to collect $7.53 million, which may be a more realistic goal for The
League rather than what could possibly be a $10.5 million final for Will and Martin.
Compared to the U.S. pace, The League's opening comes in a very strong 33.8% better* in Australia. Although
adventure films do tend to do well in Australia, as evidenced by this opening, comic adaptations however generally do not
do as well in here. Few people would be aware of The League's comic origins, and perhaps that could have been a
factor in this weekends sturdy opening. But with there being a large market available to see films at the moment with
the holidays still going in most of the nation, any film that featured the promise of some decent action had the right
formula for success. Unfortunately last week I had too little time to write a report (even this one is being written in
cars while traveling around and at various family member's homes while doing the visiting rounds before I leave), and
therefore no opening predictions were set, but with a little honesty a can say The League would have opened with
far more than what most likely would have been a $2 million prediction.
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After a three week reign, Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl had to settle for second position,
but although it didn’t catch the top spot, it may have been its most impressive weekend to date. In its fourth weekend,
the Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom starring pic about a pirate who teams up with a blacksmith to rescue a damsel from a ship
load of pirates was off only 9% to $2.24 million. After falling what were considered only good amounts of 33% and 29%
through weeks two and three, Pirates' fourth weekend hold has meant the film has finally shown the blockbuster
style holding power that was expected of it upon release.
Pirates' total now stands at a great $18.51 million to stand at position 67 on the all time list in Australia, but
what's more impressive is that its weekend take sits in position 7 on the all time best fourth
weekend list, just in front of the 1999 BVI hit The Sixth Sense. This weekend, Pirates is now tracking
a very close 0.3% behind where the Bruce Willis ghost thriller was after four weeks of play, a good improvement over the
last couple of weeks. Initially Pirates opened 10.8% ahead of The Sixth Sense, but dipped to stand 2.2%
behind after its second weekend. Through its third weekend it also lost ground and was 5.9% behind, highlighting the
strength of this weekend for Pirates just gone. Through the third mid-week session, Pirates minted $1.83
million vs. the $1.00 million The Sixth Sense gathered, thanks again to the handy holiday period. So, although
Pirates has managed to catch up to The Sixth Sense, there really was no stopping the Joel Osment nominated
pic's holding power from here on out. One thing is for sure, the end of the holidays always effects films that owe the
bulk of their inflated success to the holidays, and unfortunately for Pirates, it is one such film that is sure to
be adversely effected once the holidays disappear.
Compared to the U.S., Pirates of The Caribbean is now tracking 11.6% behind* in Australia. This is down from an
opening that was 10.7% better* in Australia. However, Pirates lost its sheen after week two when it was 21.3%
behind*, and only improved slightly after week three when it stood 18.3% behind. Although Pirates won't be able to
regain or match the lead of the U.S. performance, its fourth weekend take was 19.0% better* in Australia than in the U.S.,
the third mid-week take was also a good 32.6% better*.
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Coming within an inch of becoming the highest grossing film for 2003 at the close of the weekend was the animated monster
Finding Nemo. While the film would have claimed the title through Monday, its $33.06 million running total was
just behind the $33.21 million that The Matrix Reloaded collected through its entire. After coming down from its
amazing opening weekend, its holiday resurgence had been rather slow until this weekend were it finally saw a rise in
ticket sales, where, although it was by only 1% it was a very fine effort. So fine in fact, that its 6th weekend take
of $2.18 million counts as the largest sixth weekend take of all time in Australia, beating
out the post New Years frame of $2.02 million that the first Harry Potter flick enjoyed back in 2002.
Although its weekend figures were pretty good, the last nationwide holiday showing through the mid-week session collected
a very hot $2.21 million, up 67.4% from the $1.32 million it collected through last weeks mid-week frame. Two weeks ago
Finding Nemo was tracking just 4.8% ahead of Shrek, last weekend after five weeks it had dipped just a little
bit more to stand 4.4% ahead. However, due to its record breaking fifth mid-week and sixth weekend, Finding Nemo is
now tracking a great 14.4% ahead of Shrek, and that will only increase due to Nemo now having passed the $32
million final of the big green guy. Compared to Harry Potter, Finding Nemo is tracking 4.0% behind the boy
wizard at the six week point, up from the 7% shortfall it was behind last weekend.
Compared to the U.S. pace, Finding Nemo is now tracking 20.2% ahead*, up from the 8.8% lead* it had two weeks ago
and the 12.8% lead* from last weekend. This shows how it has regained its lead after debuting 16.44% better*, and then
gradually losing that lead over the next four weeks. The sixth weekend itself was up* a great 97.1% on the comparative
sixth U.S. weekend, while the comparative fifth mid-weekend frame was up 123.6%.
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The top 20 films collected $15.15 million, up 24.4% on last weekend and up 18.1% on this weekend from last year when the
charts were topped by Austin Powers In Goldmember with $2.34 million in its third weekend, down 26%, while The
Bourne Identity was off only 19% in its second weekend with $2.25 million. The chart was up 8.5% on this weekend
from two years ago when the holiday period saw Cats and Dogs rise 12% in its third weekend to $2.69 million while
Rush Hour 2 was off 35% in its second weekend with $2.37 million.
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Weekend Coming 9th - 12th October 2003
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Unfortnately there's no significant or interesting openers this weekend that will impact the charts.
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* Based on a US index of 10/1 with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head.
^ Based on a UK index of 2.1/1 with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head. |
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