It’s the 13th week of the year and that means the 12th weekend has just passed us and the local box office has shifted a little, saying goodbye to two hits of the year and making space for some teen action and a little local romance.
Last week’s top movie only held onto its spot for a week before being pushed down. But it’s not that bad a sign for Will Smith’s career, as the first two spots are two new arrivals.
Heading straight into number one is the second Divergent movie, which every critic seems to think is a daft idea with a Rotten Tomatoes average of 33 percent. But Insurgent is doing okay, netting around $52 million in the US during its first week, though $2 million short of Divergent‘s first weekend taking – and that was considered a lukewarm hit. Will Insurgent manage to catch up, given its larger budget? Time will tell, but local audiences seem to like it. Then again, there isn’t much choice on the local circuit at the moment if you are into teens fighting for liberation.
The second spot is the local Ballade Vir ‘n Enkeling (Ballad for a Loner), a remake of the popular Eighties TV series. A remake of that plot, it involves a writer who disappears and a journalist who goes looking for him, only to uncover his deeply tragic past. This is the second local film to get into the top 10 this year, as well as the second Afrikaans one to do so.
Will Smith’s thriller about con artists, Focus, had to settle for third place, but that also keeps it ahead of a rather serious pack of achievers. Right behind it is Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out Of Water, now in its seventh week on the top 10 charts – clearly killing it both locally and internationally. It has made nearly $160 million globally and is set to double on the success of the previous Spongebob film. Not bad!
At fifth is another top 10 stalwart, Fifty Shades of Grey. With six weeks on the chart it is also the biggest moneymaker for the local scene this year. No wonder its actors want raises. But the softcore S&M drama thriller thing – I actually have no idea what it is – has taken a big plunge from the second spot last week.
Sixth is the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the so-so sequel that is proving as popular among older audiences and fans of British actors as the first film. Indeed, it only dropped one spot, which given the two new entries at the top could be construed as actually stepping up a level instead of falling to seventh.
That place belongs to the week’s biggest drop, Chappie, which crashed down four spots. It’s now officially Neill Blomkamp’s first flop: even Elysium did a fair amount of business. Chappie just cratered and even local moviegoers don’t seem to care much about it.
At number eight is American Sniper, a movie that has proven even more divisive than its source material, and its scaremongering of terrorists (practically none of which were in the book) has proven a hit, keeping the film on the local charts for five weeks and a drop of two spots.
Number nine is The Cobbler, Adam Sandler’s movie about guy with magical shoes or something like that. Debuting last week at eight, it has held its own but still slid one spot. Critics hate it – 7 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it one of Sandler’s worst. In other news, is Sandler’s surname reminiscent of an ancestor who was a cobbler?
Finally, at tenth is The Wedding Ringer, a comedy that I predicted would probably do well – and it has! But even a broken clock is right every now and then. It has managed to stay in the charts for seven weeks as well.
Leaving the chart this week: suited action movie Kingsman and the biopic Theory of Everything.
The top earner on the chart remains Fifty Shades of Grey, which has taken in over R35 million.
- 01. INSURGENT (incl 3D & Imax)
- 02. BALLADE VIR ‘N ENKELING
- 03. FOCUS
- 04. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (incl 3D)
- 05. FIFTY SHADES OF GREY
- 06. SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
- 07. CHAPPIE (incl Imax)
- 08. AMERICAN SNIPER
- 09. COBBLER, THE
- 10. WEDDING RINGER
Last Updated: March 26, 2015
