Weekend Results 27th Feb to 2nd March 2014 - Non-Stop takes the lead over the oscar weekend

The new Liam Neeson film Non-Stop has easily taken the top spot from Wolf Creek 2 with a total of 1.9m.  The Australian horror franchise film Wolf Creek 2 managed a 40% dip from it's average opening weekend.  It now has 3.2m in the kitty.  The total is slightly ahead of it's predecessor thanks to it's larger opening weekend. Still it has a small way to go before it can pass the first film.  The oscar weekend helped a number of films in the top 20 with The wolf of wall street managing a 15% dip this weekend.  The wolf now has over 21m which is easily the biggest R18+ rated film in australian history.  WOWs should go on to pass 25m at this rate and if it continues holds in this vicinity a total approaching 30m is possible.  Lone Survivor dipped 40% for a total just shy of 3m.  Last Vegas rounded out the 5 with a total of 6m.

Also opening over the weekend was 3 Days to Kill which could only manage 483k on 163 screens.  The generic Taken lookalike without the hook just didn't click with audiences here like in the US only a week earlier.  Of bigger interest to Hayao Miyazaki fans, his latest effort opened on 9 screens to an impressive 116k.

Other films that benefited from the oscars were 12 Years a slave (+20%), Dallas buyers club (+1%), and Gravity (-12%) and still in the top 20 after 22 weeks.  I expect that 12 years a slave and Gravity to benefit the most from the oscars with both films picking up the most gongs (Gravity the most including best director with 12 years a slave in 2nd including best picture).    Gravity's increase may be muted however due the fact the Blueray has been released in the past week.

This weekend coming is the release of the 300 sequel which we are getting 1 day earlier than stateside.  The original film made a strong 5.3m (6.4m long weekend) over the easter weekend in 2007.  This time, 300 does not have the support of holiday weekend and opens in the middle of school / uni time.  The original film had a strong run winding up with over 14m.  An opening above 5m and we are ship shape.  Anything under 4m and things aren't so rosie.  I'm expecting an opening around 4.5m. with enough legs to pass 12m.

Here is last weekends top 20:

TW	LW	Movie	Rating	Distributor	Weekend Gross	% Change	Screen Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Week #
1	N	Non-Stop	M	Studiocanal	$ 1,869,355	-	246	-	$7,599	$ 1,869,355	1
2	1	Wolf Creek 2	MA15+	Roadshow	$ 1,009,865	-39.9%	218	2	$4,632	$ 3,242,765	2
3	3	The Wolf of Wall Street	R18+	Roadshow	$ 898,128	-15.4%	228	-79	$3,939	$ 21,101,674	6
4	2	Lone Survivor	MA15+	Disney	$ 897,446	-39.6%	230	-29	$3,902	$ 2,925,509	2
5	4	Last Vegas	M	Universal	$ 596,913	-26.4%	233	-14	$2,562	$ 5,929,187	4
6	5	Robocop	M	Sony	$ 503,117	-37.0%	194	-30	$2,593	$ 6,510,591	4
7	7	12 Years a Slave	MA15+	Icon	$ 495,218	19.7%	160	2	$3,095	$ 5,100,811	5
8	N	3 Days to Kill	M	Roadshow	$ 483,428	-	163	-	$2,966	$ 483,428	1
9	6	Are we officially dating?	MA15+	Studiocanal	$ 296,247	-34.8%	161	-13	$1,840	$ 2,228,903	3
10	9	The Dallas Buyers Club	MA15+	Pinnacle	$ 279,384	1.7%	76	6	$3,676	$ 1,329,733	3
11	11	Le Week-End	M	Paramount	$ 198,008	-13.3%	59	0	$3,356	$ 560,056	2
12	8	Endless Love	M	Universal	$ 189,842	-52.7%	174	-32	$1,091	$ 1,990,562	3
13	10	The Book Thief	PG	Fox	$ 180,039	-34.0%	92	-49	$1,957	$ 13,647,507	8
14	12	Frozen	PG	Disney	$ 156,542	-27.8%	134	-27	$1,168	$ 34,769,871	10
15	N	Shaadi Ke Side Effects	M	Eros	$ 145,487	-	23	-	$6,326	$ 145,487	1
16	13	Philomena	M	Hopscotch	$ 123,755	-31.4%	115	-30	$1,076	$ 11,078,221	10
17	15	Nebraska	M	Roadshow	$ 122,082	-13.3%	45	2	$2,713	$ 339,277	2
18	N	The Wind Rises	PG	Madman	$ 116,392	-	9	-	$12,932	$ 144,648	1
19	N	Met Opera: Rusalka	EX	Sharmill	$ 88,604	-	31	-	$2,858	$ 88,604	1
20	20	Gravity	M	Warner Bros	$ 74,839	-12.0%	43	-3	$1,740	$ 21,920,676	22