SA box office: The Dark Tower rises over charts

The Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower — starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey — has opened in first place on the South African charts despite an underwhelming debut in the US. The film has taken over a decade to make it to screen, and it seems audiences have deemed the wait worth it: The Dark Tower has already pulled in US$107-million from a US$60-million budget.

It’s unlikely the film will see a second week at the top, though: other Stephen King adaptation It is sure to topple any competition when it opens this Friday. If The Dark Tower maintains its popularity, though, King is likely to take home gold and silver next weekend.

So how did the other films fare this weekend? (8 – 10 September)

The arrival of The Dark Tower meant The Hitman’s Bodyguard was finally knocked from its three-week-long reign at the top. Samuel L Jackson and Ryan Reynolds’ take on the buddy cop genre enjoyed an easy opening with little competition, but its glory days have come to an end as other Big Budgets enter the scene.

The Dark Tower has already pulled in $107m from a $60m budget

Still going strong in third place is indie animation Son of Bigfoot. The Belgian film is now in its fifth week in third, and has officially outdone family comedy Keeping up with the Kandasamys. Back in March, the South African film held onto its third spot for four weeks — but Son of Bigfoot has proven that appealing to children with little competition is an inherently more lucrative endeavour.

Tom Cruise’s American Made fell two spots down to fourth in only its second week on the charts. Behind it in fifth is surprise success Girls Trip, which has brought in US$130-million from a US$19-million budget.

Quirky comedy Logan Lucky opened only in sixth place, despite a star-studded cast of Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, and Katie Holmes. The film’s lacklustre box office stint is somewhat of a disappointment for director Steven Soderbergh, who reduced the role of the studio to prove the benefit of independent creative control.

Finally, the biggest drop of the week goes to The Bounce Back, which debuted in SA last week after opening in the US in December 2016. The comedy only managed a seventh spot debut locally, and this weekend fell three spots to tenth.

Here are ten most-watched movies in SA this past weekend:

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1. Dark Tower (Incl. 4DX)
2. The Hitman’s Bodyguard (Incl. 4DX)
3. Son of Bigfoot (Incl. 3D)
4. American Made
5. Girls Trip
6. Logan Lucky
7. Annabelle
8. Atomic Blonde (Incl. IMAX)
9. Despicable Me 3 (Incl. 3D)
10. The Bounce Back

The above list was provided by Ster Kinekor Entertainment.