Van Helsing opened easily and as expected on top of the charts, moving last weekend's champ Gothika down
to second place. The mega-budgeted Stephen Sommers directed monster-mash, which stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale
hunted down a first-rate $4.59 million. In the story we follow the Catholic Church-sanctioned Gabriel Van Helsing on
his various quests to 'vanquish evil', the bulk of his first big screen outing deals with not only Dracula, but
The Wolf-Man and Frankenstein too. Deploying on a medium-wide 338 screens, Van Helsing averaged a fine $13,598
from each of them, allowing the opening frame to count as the 37th largest of all time in Australia
The opening also easily counts as the largest for the year so far, beating out the $3.45 million of early April's Starsky and Hutch. For Jackman, the launch counts as his second best to date, passing the $3.08 million of 2001's Swordfish and the $3.60 million of 2000's X-Men. The superhero sequel X-Men 2 faired better on re-entry with $6.02 million. For director Sommers, Van Helsing's launch falls in between the $3.81 million of 1999's man-making surprise hit The Mummy, and the $5.43 million of its swiftly-produced 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns.
Compared to the U.S. pace, Van Helsing's opening weekend comes in a small 7% down* on what was a day-and-date launch with the U.S. Although technically released on the same weekend, Australia's normal Thursday start means that is was released a day before hand in Australia. Compared to Jackman's first, and arguably his only major headlining role worthy of comparison, Swordfish opened 70% better* in Australia than it did in the U.S.. Rewinding back to 1999 for director Sommers, where The Mummy opened 12% behind in Australia*, where the sequel, while increasing on the original in both countries, was 20% lower*.
The top 20 films collected $8.8 million over the weekend, up 22.9% over last weekend and up 19.9% on this weekend two years ago when X-Men 2 stayed in top in its second weekend with $2.74 million, off 55% from its opening frame. The weekend was up 47.3% on this weekend two years ago when High Crimes opened on top with a rather soft $0.81 million.
Weekend Coming 13th - 16th May 2004
While last weekend saw the first of the big "summer" guns with Van Helsing, this weekend's Troy differs
slightly. While a certainty for box office success, it's also bringing in a good deal of critical acclaim, something that
may qualify it for potential Oscar glory next year. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson (The Perfect Storm), Troy
references from the Helen of Troy story in Homer's The Iliad, featuring the famous characters such as Achilles, Hector,
Helen herself, Paris and of course the Trojan Horse. The notable exceptions in this adaptation are the various gods that
frequented The Iliad, most likely excluded to bring the film more of a Gladiatorial realism, rather than a
Mummy type fantasy. Troy arrives with some of the biggest star-power of the year, including Brad Pitt,
Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, Peter O'Toole and Diane Kruger among others.
As with Van Helsing last weekend, Troy is released in Australia on the same weekend as it is in the U.S., meaning that the film gets a good 30 hour jump on the U.S. launch. This is the type of film that has the potential to do huge business in Australia. A film that is grounded in some sense of realism, has obvious quality behind it and a sense of pride and accomplishment in its production. Films such as this, especially citing the degree of Gladiator's success above and beyond what it managed in the U.S., and of course the Lord of The Rings films. Back in 2000, Gladiator opened with a sensational $5.92 million, which was then the fourth largest opening of all time in Australia. A lot of that success had to do with Russell Crowe in the lead role, but the fact that the film had class also helped out. The fact that local boy Eric Bana was in The Hulk didn't seem to help that film all that much, but in the right project - and this is one of them - his presence will only add to an already massive draw. While Troy arrives with an R rating in the U.S., its relatively soft M rating in Australia will help it in its mission to reproduce Gladiator type results. While it may not be able to bring in an opening in the top four of all time, it has all the right stuff to pass Gladiator's opening. Troy will be the one to beat this weekend and could open with around $6.5 million this weekend.
* 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.