If you’re not sure just how much Australia loves John Farnham, this weekend’s box office results should give you a good idea.
Hoyts announced earlier this month that last night’s tribute concert for the Australian icon would be beamed into cinemas nationwide, and the show has pulled in some incredible numbers.
Across just 50 screens, The Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend – The Celebration Concert at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night raked in $1.2 million at the box office and came in at No. 3 for the weekend overall.
For reference, this week’s top film in Australia, Resident Evil, made $3.7 million across 389 cinemas.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ was at Rod Laver Arena for the concert, which saw live sets from the likes of Keith Urban, Tina Arena, and Jimmy Barnes, as well as a livestreamed performance of “You’re the Voice” from Celine Dion. Check out our full review of the show here.
It was hoped that Farnham would attend the concert, however, his family announced on social media before the concert that the 77-year-old would not attend due to poor health.
Resident Evil did enough to take out No. 1 at the Australian box office, though, dethroning Practical Magic 2 from top spot. The film, adapted from the famous video game franchise, was praised by Rolling Stone as “the horror reboot of the year.”
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“Everything ends on such a high that you start to get the equivalent of the Sunday scaries over a possible sequel — the fear that, like so many franchises before it, this new and vastly improved version will simply run itself into the ground and piss away any good will. Hopefully, the lessons learned here will be used to level up other projects and possible continuations,” the review reads.
“For now, everyone behind this superior subgenre entry should take a victory lap. They’ve just made the best horror-reboot of the year.
Elsewhere, The Odyssey stayed strong at No. 4, pulling in another $812,000 in its tenth week, Coyote vs Acme debuted at No. 5 with $800,000, and 2026’s biggest film in Australia, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, came in at No. 6 in its eighth week, bringing its overall total to almost $87 million.
The only other debuts this week include Universal’s Forgotten Island ($651,000) and Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom ($189,000).
