Box Office: Kong is king... but only just!

The arrival of Kong: Skull Island on 401 screens saw the movie top the chart this week, but only just. The new film starring Tom Hiddleston was less than $200,000 ahead of the second weekend box office haul of Logan.

Weekend box office was down 9% on the previous weekend where it was again all about the top movies on a weekend where $400,000 was enough to get you in the top five.

One of the highlights of the past week was Lion making it to #5 on the all-time box office chart for an Australian movie in Australia. We predicted Lion could rank that high and it reached that milestone with box office now certain to pass $28m this week. Whether it has enough staying power to crack $31.78m and overtake Happy Feet at #4 seems reasonably unlikely given Lion has been on release for eight weeks with takings under $700,000 this week. It could go close though, as Transmission Films notes below.

This statement from the Lion distributor on Monday:

"What a magnificent journey this has been. Saroo’s incredible story has become ingrained in our popular culture earning it a place in history as one of the biggest Australian films of all time. And Lion still has a lot of roar left in it yet, with audiences going back to see it a second and third time," said Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie from Australian distributor Transmission Films.

#1 Kong: Skull Island $4.71m

An impressive PR strategy rolled out last week saw Tom Hiddleston talked about or interviewed on all the key TV and radio shows. The movie was just short of a screen average of $12,000 from its 401 screens. A long weekend in some states should help keep takings bubbling along for an extra day.

#2 Logan $4.52m

Takings dipped 42% on the second weekend as it held on at 412 screens at a screen average of $10,994 after opening with close to a $19,000 screen average. Total earnings to-date are just under $15m as of Sunday.

#3 Hidden Figures $1.31m

A fourth weekend well over $1m has got to be a great result for a movie about NASA mathematicians. Screens lifted by 15 to 340 this week as total earn is just short of $14m.

#4 Lion $671,000

The first of two Aussie movies in the top five for a second weekend is probably some sort of record in itself. The fact that Lion now sits at #5 in the Aussie box office hall of fame is a giant achievement. Screens dropped from 316 to 280 with total earn on $27.72m.

#5 Jasper Jones $395,000

The second Aussie movie in the top five was down 37% on its opening weekend on 223 screens with a screen average of $1,774 after $2,849 on debut. Total earnings are $1.48m to-date.

Outside the top five: Oscar Best Picture Moonlight climbed from #11 to #7 this week, but its modest weekend take was $285,000 from 87 screens with a total earn to-date of $1.85m after seven weeks.