Noticias

In more open theatrical markets like the US and the UK, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – the first Marvel film to feature an Asian lead and a predominantly Asian cast – is breaking pandemic-era records.

In Australia, the Sydney-shot title bowed on $1.9 million ($2.1 million with previews); a result that would be fairly unimaginable for a MCU film in normal times but one that is the reality with such a significant portion of the market shut.

Nonetheless, it marks best opening weekend for a film since Space Jam: A New Legacy, outpacing Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad and Free Guy.

Given how disrupted the landscape is, a perhaps more accurate way to ascertain how Shang-Chi is being received locally is in its screen average; it averaged a very healthy $7,435 across the 262 screens it played. It also had 55 per cent market share.

Indeed, the mood of exhibitors who could play the film appears buoyant,...

In the US, Universal’s Candyman slashed its way to the top of the box office last weekend, with a $US22 million ($30 million) result surpassing expectations and hailed as an encouraging sign for moviegoing.

Here in Australia, where the country’s two largest theatrical markets in Sydney and Melbourne remain closed, results were quite different.

The MA15+ film, produced and written by Jordan Peele and starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, opened on just $148,050 from 103 screens.

That was just behind fellow horror Don’t Breathe 2, which opened on $160,597 from 103 screens for Sony. By contrast, the 2016 original topped the box office, opening on $1.3 million – ultimately finishing just shy of $5 million.

According to Numero, the top 20 titles mustered $2.5 million, down 17 per cent on the previous. That is the lowest result this year, with no title cracking $1 million.

Instead of horror, Australian audiences that could still go to the movies mostly opted for sci-fi action...

‘Bloodshot.’ (Photo credit: Columbia Pictures)

Ticket sales at Australian cinemas plunged to a new low last weekend as coronavirus-wary audiences ignored almost all the new releases.

The top 20 titles generated a mere $6.79 million, 25 per cent down on the previous frame, which had been the worst weekend of the year, according to Numero.

This morning exhibitors and distributors were struggling to recall the last time the weekend grosses fell to such a nadir.

Typifying the market’s malaise, only Sony Pictures’ Bloodshot and Universal’s The Invisible Man in week three cracked $1 million.

In the Us, where some cinemas have closed, the estimated weekend take of $US55.3 million was the lowest since 1998.

The government’s ban on gatherings of more than 500 people has not impacted cinemas, at least for now.

Hoyts Cinemas CEO Damian Keogh tells If: “We have no immediate plans to close cinemas but will be guided by government policy.