After some pretty dismal weeks in earnings at the box office, cinemas nationwide are welcoming this week’s no. 1 film, the remake of Stephen King’s classic novel (and reason why so many kids in the 80s hated clowns), It. Opening on 548 screens nationally, it made a phenomenal $7.46m in its opening weekend, and was the biggest opening weekend ever for a horror movie. In comparison, Annabelle: Creation was no. 1 for 2 weeks in August, and has, to date, made $7.06m.
Bloody Pennywise (meant literally and figuratively) did so well that It also managed the biggest opening weekend since Spider-Man: Homecoming opened with $10.13m at the beginning of July.
Unfortunately, last week’s no. 1 film, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, couldn’t hold on to its opening weekend win, and this week dropped one spot to 2nd place, earning $1.25m. It can currently be seen on 267 screens nationwide (46 screens less that last week’s debut).
| # | Film Title | Distributor | Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IT | WARNER BROS | 7,467,255 |
| 2 | THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD | ROADSHOW | 1,257,901 |
| 3 | GIRL’S TRIP | UNIVERSAL | 954,165 |
| 4 | AMERICAN MADE | UNIVERSAL | 781,460 |
| 5 | DUNKIRK | WARNER BROS | 258,499 |
| 6 | THE EMOJI MOVIE | SONY PICTURES | 201,320 |
| 7 | ALI’S WEDDING | MADMAN | 191,836 |
| 8 | HAMPSTEAD | ENTERTAINMENT ONE | 183,031 |
| 9 | ANNABELLE: CREATION | WARNER BROS | 163,405 |
| 10 | GIFTED | ROADSHOW | 135,907 |
It’s not all creepy clowns and your worst fears played out on the big screen, though. Comedy Girls Trip, which debuted last week, remains steady at no. 3, and earned $954k at the box office.
Action/comedy American Made dropped from no. 2 last week to no. 4 this week, and made $781k in the process. It has made $5.67m so far since its debut at the end of August.
Still a strong performer, Dunkirk drops from no. 4 last week to no. 5 this week. It earned $258k this week, and, with 8 weeks running in cinemas, has made $22.97m so far.
There might not be any slowing down of horror films this month, with Mother!, director Darren Aronofsky’s new film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer premiering this week. It’s more a psychological thriller, but will definitely add to the uptake in thrills in cinema of late. Box office trends have shown that horror films have topped the charts 3 times in the past 5 weeks (It this week and Annabelle: Creation twice). Whatever gets you going …
All figures from The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia and Box Office Mojo.
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