Disney’s live-action Moana has sailed straight to the top of the Australian box office.
The film grossed $5.93 million for its opening weekend (Thursday, July 9th-Sunday, July 12th), beating out Toy Story 5 which grossed $5.11 million. The fifth instalment of the beloved Toy Story franchise had sat at the top for the past three weeks, with a new grossed total of $37.42 million. Minions & Monsters moved down to third with $3.74 million, while Evil Dead Burn debuted in fourth with $746,ooo.
In a recent interview with Variety Australia, Moana director Thomas Kail hinted at the possibility of a live action Moana 2. “We hope that we do a job that makes people say, ‘Oh, I wonder what’s next’,” he said.
Obsession – which is on track to become Australia and New Zealand’s biggest horror hit in a decade – sat comfortably in fifth with a further $702,000, bringing its total to $23.92 million. Produced on a modest budget, the film has emerged as one of the year’s breakout theatrical success stories, buoyed by strong audience word-of-mouth and positive critical reception. Its extended run at the box office stands out at a time when horror titles often experience steep declines after opening weekend.
It was followed by jackass: best and last which brought in $625,000. While it was widely accepted that 2022’s Jackass Forever was the final hurrah for the famous MTV crew, the intention to celebrate the franchise’s 25th anniversary quickly turned into this latest feature film. “…I think it was someone over on their end [Paramount] that suggested, why don’t you make a greatest hits movie?,” director Jeff Tremaine said. “We thought that’s a kind of weird, interesting idea, and then we decided, yeah, let’s go get the gang back together and shoot some.”
Supergirl, starring Australian actor Milly Alcock, fell short again, with $499,000 at the box office last weekend, to a total of $5.47 million. Despite arriving with one of the year’s biggest studio campaigns, the film launched well below expectation. A source familiar with the financials of Supergirl told Variety the losses will likely sit around US$80 million to US$85 million, assuming that worldwide ticket sales reach at least US$200 million.
Disclosure Day sat in eighth with $288,000, followed by Dhamaal 4, which debuted this week with $253,000. Backrooms rounded out the top ten with $215,000, bringing its total to $15 million.
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The top 20 films brought in $18.90 million total over the weekend.
