Robert Pattinson has another box office hit on his hands. Primetime has stormed to No. 1 at the Australian box office upon its debut.
The A24 film, directed by Lance Oppenheim, sees Pattinson portray Chris Hansen, the former host of NBC’s controversial To Catch a Predator series, which followed undercover sting operations targeting suspected child predators. The film has already sparked criticism from Hansen himself, who, in an interview with Variety, described Pattinson’s portrayal as a “complete work of fiction.”
Pattinson, meanwhile, expressed hope that Hansen will eventually appreciate the performance. “I would hope the amount of inspiration his character has given a lot of people for years is some kind of compliment,” the actor previously said.
The new release earned $1.3 million over the weekend (Thursday, October 29th – Sunday, November 1st), bringing its cumulative total to $1.41 million, including advance screenings. The Australian debut follows a successful international run, with the film having already grossed nearly US$50 million worldwide against a reported US$15 million production budget.
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Clayface, which debuted at No. 1 last weekend, slipped to second place with $1.08 million. The horror film has now generated $3.59 million at the Australian box office.
Animated fantasy Wildwood held onto third place, adding $606,000 to its tally for a cumulative total of $1.78 million. Meanwhile, Street Fighter continued its theatrical run in fourth place, earning a further $518,000 over the weekend. The action film, which debuted at No. 1 two weeks ago, has now accumulated $4.86 million.
Rounding out the top five was another newcomer, war drama Pressure, which opened with $479,000. Including advance screenings, the film has earned $593,000 to date.
Elsewhere, Verity, starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, dropped to sixth place with $415,000, pushing its Australian box office total to $12 million. The Daisy Edgar-Jones led Sense and Sensibility followed in seventh with $369,000, bringing its cumulative total to $2.89 million.
In its 16th weekend of release, The Odyssey continued to draw audiences, adding another $268,000 to its impressive $70.4 million total. Heart of the Beast landed in ninth place with $182,000, taking its overall earnings to $8.01 million, while Resident Evil rounded out the top 10 with $169,000 and a cumulative total of $13.6 million.
Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun once again missed out on the top ten, following its disappointing No. 13 debut last weekend with just $257,000. The film has also struggled in the US, where it opened at No. 15 with just US$720,000 from 880 locations, prompting Sony to scale back its theatrical release amid poor reviews.
Waititi recently hit back at critics over the film’s reception, after reviews described it as “calamitous” and a “strained, whimsical comedy that’s ruinous.”
“I haven’t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people,” Waititi wrote in a social media post. “So this Halloween, let’s spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn’t achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus became critics. The same people who also hated Jojo Rabbit. Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”
According to Hoyts, the weekend’s 10 highest-grossing films accounted for 67% of the total national box office.
From Variety Australia
