OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL debuts at no. 1

11 Mar 2013

SINGAPORE - OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL opens on top of the box office with US$846,163 from 56 screens (including 3D and IMAX) for a US$15,110 screen average. That's less than last week's similar fabled-based JACK THE GIANT SLAYER which opened to US$1,097,754 on a slightly stronger US$16,143 screen average.

In comparison, OZ's debut is similar to parent company Disney's JOHN CARTER and HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS. JOHN CARTER opened with US$868,818 on the same weekend a year ago while the (also) fabled-theme special effects heavy HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS started with US$878,605 but a higher NC16 rating 6 weeks ago. CARTER finished its 5-week run with US$2,070,634 while HANSEL & GRETEL has collected US$1,736,257 after 7 weeks. OZ looks likely to finish in the same range as well.

Last week's top film JACK THE GIANT SLAYER tumbles 59.2% and has grossed US$1,775,290 to date. It's currently the third highest grossing film of the year behind AH BOYS TO MEN 2 and A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD.

GHOST CHILD - the 7th domestic release of the year begins with US$179,396 and an okay screen average of US$7,800. In comparison, 23:59 from the same director and producers grossed US$459,368 on its first weekend back in Nov 2011 for a US$1,208,479 final. It looks much harder for GHOST CHILD to reach the same numbers domestically now.

Other debuts this week include the mystery thriller STOKER (US$59,649), young adults birthday comedy 21 & OVER (US$30,144) and the crime comedy with Oscar winning actors Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin, STAND UP GUYS (US$16,032). All 3 films scored screen averages in the weak range of US$2,672 to US$3,768.

Last week, the Indonesian biopic drama romance HABIBIE & AINUN debut but was unranked by Box Office Mojo. The 2-print release turns up on the chart this week and has grossed US$7,562 to date. Thai horror 9.9.81 from Encore Films continues to be unranked but probably grossed an additional US$59,649 to US$95,349 in its second week from a probable 15 screens.

Overall, the box office dipped 4.2% this weekend, which also coincides with the IT Show - one of 4 major electronics sale events in Singapore. A total of US$1,749,091 worth of tickets from 34 ranked films were sold, down 10.73% compared to the same weekend last year when JOHN CARTER commanded the top spot and was amongst 25 films that grossed a total of US$1,959,401.

Source: Box Office Mojo