So it looks as though Australian audiences want more than light S&M in the bedroom, with Hidden Figures, the Taraji P. Henson film about female African-American mathematicians at NASA, taking the top spot this week. In its opening week, it made $3.25m and beat out Fifty Shades Darker for no. 1.
Like many of the films currently in cinemas, Hidden Figures is also generating critical praise. It’s already won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and is nominated for three Academy Awards this year, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer) and Best Adapted Screenplay. In the USA, it’s already earned USD$142M+ making it the highest-grossing Best Picture Oscar-nominee this year.
Making way for the Oscar-nominated juggernaut and giving up its no. 1 spot is Fifty Shades Darker, which is at no. 2 this week. It earned $3.07m, but in only its second week in the cinemas it’s already made $13.7m.
Aside from Hidden Figures, the other film that premiered this week to great box office success was The Great Wall, which made $2.96m and sits at no. 3 on the list.
| # | Film Title | Distributor | Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HIDDEN FIGURES | FOX | 3,254,452 |
| 2 | FIFTY SHADES DARKER | UNIVERSAL | 3,070,594 |
| 3 | THE GREAT WALL | UNIVERSAL | 2,960,324 |
| 4 | LION | TRANSMISSION | 1,889,705 |
| 5 | SPLIT | UNIVERSAL | 972,645 |
| 6 | T2: TRAINSPOTTING | SONY PICTURES | 370,082 |
| 7 | LA LA LAND | ENTERTAINMENT ONE | 305,939 |
| 8 | PATRIOTS DAY | ROADSHOW | 246,050 |
| 9 | MANCHESTER BY THE SEA | UNIVERSAL | 223,545 |
| 10 | MOANA | WALT DISNEY | 178,830 |
In no. 2 last week was Lion, which has dropped to no. 4 this week, and earned $1.88m at the box office. Lion is now one of the top 10 Australian-produced films of all time, beating out Red Dog (which is no longer in the top 10), Mad Max: Fury Road and Strictly Ballroom. Lion sits at no. 8 in the list, and, to date, has made $22.71m.
Split has also dropped down in the box office chart, going from no. 3 last week to no. 5 this week and earning $972k. This is M. Night Shyamalan most successful box office hit since The Sixth Sense, which hit screens in 1999.
The much-anticipated follow up to 1996’s hit Trainspotting, T2: Trainspotting, officially hits cinemas later this week, but it earned $370k in previews over the weekend, just missing out on a top 5 spot in this week’s box office charts. With great buzz behind it, and director Danny Boyle doing the promotional rounds in Australia last week, we expect it to move further up the ladder as it hits wide release on Thursday. Though will it knock Hidden Figures off the top? We’ll let you know next week!
All figures from The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia and Box Office Mojo.
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