Box Office: Peter Rabbit debuts at #1 with $3.64m and $10k screen average
Tomb Raider dropped from #1 to #3 thanks to the new arrivals.
Mediaweek editor James Manning looks at the weekend box office for March 22-25, 2018.
Box office revenues for the top 20 movies climbed off their lows for the year last week as takings lifted 21% to $11.80m across the four-day weekend.
With the Easter break just days away, Peter Rabbit took top spot, knocking off the weekend’s other big release, Pacific Rim: Uprising.
Both new releases will be hoping to swell their coffers across the Easter long weekend.
Tomb Raider dropped from #1 to #3 thanks to the new arrivals.
Both Black Panther and Red Sparrow continue to hover in the top five.
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#1 Peter Rabbit $3.64m
The live action and animated family comedy has been held back in Australia waiting for the Easter break. The movie was produced by Sydney-based Animal Logic Entertainment and director Will Gluck’s Olive Bridge Entertainment. After previews last week the film opened properly on 373 screens with a weekend screen average of $9,766, which is the best average for a movie at #1 since the opening weekend of Black Panther at the end of February. That gives Peter Rabbit a gross to-date of $4.24m. The live-action scenes were partly shot in Sydney’s Centennial Park and Central Railway station with the latter doubling for Paddington station in London. The movie was also filmed in London and the Lake District in northern England.
#2 Pacific Rim: Uprising $2.69m
The weekend’s major release was this science fiction action movie starring John Boyega, who recently visited Australia on a promo tour. The film opened on 425 screens, but had a lower screen average than the #1 movie with $6,343.
#3 Tomb Raider $1.30m
Last week’s #1 movie has dropped two spots and shed 201 screens this week to 359 with a screen average of $3,630 giving it a total gross to-date of $4.86m. Takings on its second weekend dropped 53%, which is the sharpest decline for any movie in the top five this year.
#4 Black Panther $1.21m
Week six on the chart and the movie still holds a top five spot with 300 screens still showing one of the biggest hits of the year so far. Box office total after those six weekends is $37.50m.
#5 Red Sparrow $712,000
Four weeks in the top five is a good result for Red Sparrow, which remains on 267 screens and has a box office total of $8.74m.
