This weekend past’s South African box office chart feels like deja vu as there was no change in the top three despite five new films hitting cinemas last Friday. Fourth place is where we find the first of the newcomers and really the only the one that made any sort of impact. Local true-story romantic drama Vergeet My Nie opened with R1.2 million, which is nothing groundbreaking but actually pretty good for a film like this. What makes it even more impressive, relatively, is that Vergeet My Nie debuted in just 53 cinemas, giving it the second-highest per-theatre-average on the charts this week, bested only by Bad Boys For Life.
Speaking of which, the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action-comedy sequel ruled once more, now making it four weeks on the trot in which it held the top spot. Bad Boys actually improved as it added another R4.8 million to push its current total past the R40 million mark. Birds of Prey kept its perch in second place with R1.3 million as it dropped 28% in its sophomore weekend. Meanwhile, Jumanji: The Next Level, currently the top earner on the chart by far with R68 million, kept that total climbing with another R1.2 million as it somehow improved by a staggering 20% since the previous weekend. It rounded out the top three.
As for the other newcomers, they all had very limited openings so not much was expected from them… and most of them still fell way short of the mark. Ensemble horror Fantasy Island did okay-is to land in seventh place as it earned around R337k from just 22 cinemas, but Queen & Slim, Bhai’s Cafe, and Ordinary Love were all massive flops as they ended in tenth, eleventh, and fifteenth place, respectively.
Let’s see what the rest of the SA box office chart looks like:
| No. | Movie Name | Weekend gross | Percentage change | Local gross | Last Week's Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bad Boys for Life | R4.8 million | +6% | R40 million | 1st |
| 2 | Birds of Prey | R1.3 million | -28% | R3.8 million | 2nd |
| 3 | Jumanji: The Next Level | R1.2 million | +20% | R68 million | 2nd |
| 4 | Vergeet My Nie | R1.2 million | NE | R1.2 million | NE |
| 5 | Dolittle | R669 887 | -23% | R10.3 million | 4th |
| 6 | 1917 | R467 388 | -12% | R6 million | 6th |
| 7 | Fantasy Island | R337 712 | NE | R337 712 | NE |
| 8 | Spies in Disguise | R307 712 | -19% | R13.2 million | 7th |
| 9 | Like a Boss | R300 510 | -57% | R3.2 million | 5th |
| 10 | Queen & Slim | R287 048 | NE | R287 048 | NE |
NE = New Entry
Last Updated: February 18, 2020
HairyEwok
February 18, 2020 at 13:37
That cant be right, Birds of Prey has only a Gross of R3.8 Mil local? Is it really doing that bad local.
Alien Emperor Trevor
February 18, 2020 at 13:57
I went to the Sunday morning show on opening weekend at there were only 10 of us. Show still started 20/30 min late & when I left there were maybe 5 people standing outside the cinema waiting to go in for the next screening.
HairyEwok
February 18, 2020 at 14:49
Wow, this is probably the worst box office performing DC movie then.
Son of Banana Jim
February 18, 2020 at 14:41
Yep! And it’s not just in South Africa. It’s tanking globally.