Sitting at the top of the chart after its first weekend was Pike River, after putting a lot of effort into Q+A screenings in the run up to the release. However, that tactic worked out just fine for Tinā earlier this year, so why not? Pike River took $253,233 from 118 screens on its opening weekend, and has – courtesy of those previews – already grossed $536,432.
The previous weekend’s #1, Regretting You, dropped a spot to #2, taking $124,001 from 90 screens for a total of $562,754.
Also dropping one place was Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, now at #3 after earning $94,252 on 102 screens over the weekend. It’s now taken a total of $451,391.
Prime Minister continued to be the best-performing of the other Kiwi titles, adding $22,915 for $963,699 – still apparently over $35K short of the $1 million box office take it claimed to have passed at the beginning of last week.
Kangaroo, one of Australia’s best-performing local features on home turf this year, added $3,784 here, and has now earned $639,876.
Local indie The Tavern played a couple of screens, taking $1,896 to take its total to $23,550.
Among the NZIFF-premiered titles, Went Up The Hill, also on 2 screens, took $98 for a total of $5,742. Workmates played 4 screens, adding $275 for a total of $26,713. Grace: A Prayer for Peace continued on 8, earning $177 to gross $40,572 – and Life in One Chord played 3 screens, adding $33 for $89,188.
Islands-set Stranded Pearl returned to play a single screen, taking $60 for a gross of $17,433.
The week’s new arrivals include the latest in the Predator franchise, Predator: Badlands, directed by Dan Trachtenberg and featuring Elle Fanning; and local indie What Lies Between from James Cleary.
Our thanks, as always, go to Numero for providing the data that powers our box office reporting.
