Australian Box Office - Week 9 2nd March 2010

No	Movie Title	Distributor	Cinemas	Averages	$ Week	%	$ Total	WIR
1	The Blind Side	Roadshow	221	$11,622	2,568,536	NA	2,920,788	1
2	Shutter Island	Paramount	250	$8,132	2,032,994	-27%	5,870,091	2
3	Avatar	Fox	229	$7,464	1,709,239	-9%	107,859,934	11
4	Valentine's Day	Warner Bros	366	$4,135	1,513,575	-46%	14,299,917	3
5	Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief	Fox	218	$3,657	797,153	-26%	4,083,234	3
6	The Hurt Locker	Roadshow	46	$12,335	567,388	+85%	1,112,766	2
7	From Paris With Love	Hoyts	157	$3,182	499,530	-8%	1,285,592	2
8	The Wolfman	Universal	218	$2,035	443,579	-39%	3,832,071	3
9	A Single Man	Icon	26	$10,098	262,541	NA	306,231	1
10	Up In The Air	Paramount	110	$1,762	193,826	-34%	7,773,469	7
11	Bran Nue Dae	Roadshow	117	$1,363	159,502	-8%	7,063,093	7
12	Crazy Heart	Fox	58	$2,509	145,545	-34%	463,797	2
13	Invictus	WB	99	$1,412	139,783	-29%	6,821,252	6
14	It's Complicated	Universal	103	$1,248	128,538	-56%	15,489,021	8
15	Tooth Fairy	Fox	95	$1,074	102,077	-13%	10,376,722	7
16	Precious	Icon	33	$2,929	96,667	-27%	944,876	4
17	Edge of Darkness	Icon	133	$709	94,356	-62%	3,357,639	4
18	Daybreakers	Hoyts	75	$1,217	91,304	-46%	2,365,348	4
19	My Name Is Khan	Fox	34	$2,004	68,127	-61%	876,794	3
20	Antarctica	IMAX	1	$64,210	64,210	2774%	4,548,797	701

Law Abiding Citizen didn't really do anything much for Roadshow besides contributing to a great year, thus far, for the Indie Distributor who are really starting to be a thorn in the side of the big Studio outfits. Mind, Roadshow wouldn't have been too depressed with the profit heading their way from a movie not expected to be anywhere near the top ten for 2010. Sony threw Celine at a limited release, got a meh result, no penalty involved should help sell a few extra DVDs to the Kanuck faithful.

ScaryMinds score in '10

0 for 4 - At least it didn't get any worse, mind there wasn't a new release to muddy the waters further.

The Blind Side, yet another rom-com, opened in top spot all but destroying Shutter Island's chances of being the first dark genre film of the year to take a weekend. The rom-com was solid with an $11,622 average over 221 locations, but doesn't look like it's going to cause much excitement in box office pundit ranks. For it's part Shutter Island lodged down the bridesmaid slot once again through weekend two and looks like it has strong word of mouth with a -27% result. Leo no doubt is getting in the tween chicks and the movie looks dark enough to attract older teens as well as adult demographics. It looks slightly too familiar to be totally contented with, but fingers crossed a breakout hit early in the year for all those at BOM claiming horror is dead. Avatar continues doing the do in third spot with an unbelievable -7% result on weekend eleven. Can the movie breach $120 million? Can it win best picture Oscar? Will the Academy maintain their dignity and lets face it relevance in the face of fanboy rampaging? All will be answered shortly, fingers crossed the Academy hold the thin red line here.

The Wolfman was off -39% on weekend three and looks likely to stablise from here. Already a success, in horror terms, the rethink of the Universal classic is adding it's voice to a very strong start to 2010 for the dark genre. Keeping the home fires burning Daybreakers continued its march to $2.5 million proving start of year punters totally correct on the call. Considering there's at least two more home grown horror flicks getting cinema release this year will Daybreakers be a torch in the darkness or a guiding light to the resurrection, cinema wise, of home grown horror in this Country?

What's Coming Up, if anything

Marcus Dunstan was the scribe behind the later triology of Saw movies and the indie Feast trilogy, hence I'm not holding much hope for The Collector, no it's not a remake, being anything special. A down on his luck Crim decides to break into his employer's secluded mansion to steal some gems in order to pay off his ex wive's debts to a shady character. The horror kicks in when we learn that a serial killer, the Collector, has already broken in, is in the process of torturing the family, and has filled the manse with death traps. Who will get out alive, besides the protagonist (that's a given with these no risk films), and will the audience care? I'm picking not and a $250k result, worse if this gets a limited release, which it should. The movie made a tad over $7 million in the states last year and isn't on the radar internationally. Who makes the decision to release this sort of rubbish in our theatres?

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