Well, paint me surprised and humbled. Even though Alice Through the Looking Glass failed to dislodge the top two movies when it debuted last week, it has not lost any ground since. I honestly thought the movie would start a steady plunge, but instead the latest chart figures show that the new X-Men, Angry Birds and Alice are current fixtures in the top 3.
The top three films are dogs: critically they have been attacked from every angle and even the usually sycophantic Marvel fan base is feeling bitter about X-Men: Apocalypse. But yet again the charts demonstrate that critics and dedicated fan bases have less sway that we like to think. The mainstream movie viewer is still the deciding force for blockbuster success (something that Batman vs. Superman also demonstrated).
The rest of the chart is a typical day of new releases fighting for space with the rest of the crowd. Only two new movies made debuts, kicking Mother’s Day and The Jungle Book off the chart. Captain America managed to outstay that latter blockbuster, but it is finally pivoting at 10th for an exit. Outside of the top three, every other film made a one or two spot shuffle, since the new two entries arrived to complete the top five.
Money Monster is some politically-infused George Clooney vehicle: if you are familiar with his particular brand of social-themed movies, you know what to expect. But beating it to 4th place is Mrs Right Guy, a local comedy that has already grossed over R1 million, prompting a lot of praise from the country’s talking heads.
Sadly this also reveals that those same people are not really paying attention, because it’s not the first local movie this year to have stellar success. Or have we already forgotten about Happiness Is A Four Letter Word and a number of other SA’s 2016 hits? But let’s not have ignorance blemish the fact that local cinema is finally both rising in success and rapidly expanding to larger audiences. That is awesome.
- 01. X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (Incl 3D, Imax & 4DX) (LW: 1)
- 02. ANGRY BIRDS (Incl 3D) (LW: 2)
- 03. ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (LW: 3)
- 04. MONEY MONSTER (NE)
- 05. MRS RIGHT GUY (NE)
- 06. THE BOSS (LW: 4)
- 07. BASTILLE DAY (LW: 5)
- 08. BAD NEIGHBOURS 2 (LW: 7)
- 09. THE PERFECT MATCH (LW: 6)
- 10. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (Incl 3D, Imax & 4DX) (LW: 8)
(LW = Last Week; NE = New Entry)
Last Updated: June 9, 2016
