Well this is impressive. David O. Russell’s period con artist dramedy has managed to debut at #1. Hype has been building ever since it was announced that Russell had gathered an all-star cast (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence) for his follow up to the much-loved Silver Linings Playbook. Nevertheless, it is still impressive for a mature film like this to overtake a blockbuster such as Catching Fire (albeit narrowly), especially during school holidays. But it makes complete sense. With that cast, the left-over love for Playbook and a clever marketing push, the film has been positioned as a sophisticated yet fun choice for adult audiences. Also worthy of note is the fact that Jennifer Lawrence appears in both the #1 and #2 films, once again cementing her status as a bona fide movie star.
The rest of the chart is much the same as last week, with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 managing to increase its takings in its second week of release thanks to the beginning of the school holidays. Gravity is still holding on at the bottom of the chart, with Captain Phillips finally falling off after an impressive run.
This week sees the release of the much-anticipated sequel Anchorman: The Legend Continues. Fans have been waiting 9 years for this follow up to the now-classic original, so Ron Burgundy and his news team should have no problem taking the top spot.
This past weekend brought the release of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in most international territories (even though we still have to wait until Boxing Day). It gathered $73.6 million in its opening weekend in the US, which is $11 million less than its predecessor An Unexpected Journey opened with this time last year. A drop in initial takings is to be expected given the lukewarm response to the first film, but impressive international grosses and positive word of mouth should help Smaug to ultimately match the first film’s $1 billion global total.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is released in Australia on Boxing Day.
All results courtesy of the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia and Box Office Mojo.
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