Something Strange Happened at the Oz Box Office

[Movie Marshal, Source]

I was casually traversing the internet this afternoon and in my travels I went to Movie Marshal, the place I go to find out what happened at the Australian box office. Usually, I take a glance over the top 20 chart. I see what the new movies made, if any Aussie films made the cut, etc. But for this last weekend (Thur 31-Sun 03, movies are released on Thursday here) I was left scratching my head. What happened?

Could it be that Winter certainly made itself welcome this past weekend and people seeked shelter from the storm in cinemas? Or were people incredibly bored by sport on offer? Was it just because there weren't any new blockbusters? Did people just get a sudden desire to see Georgie Rule? Let's take a gander


#1 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
A big hit. It fell less that 50% in it's second weekend, something it didn't do in America, and adds another $6mil+ to it's total. It currently stands at just $1.4 million behind Spider-Man 3 after two weeks. However, Spider-Man 3 has been out for five weeks. Just goes to show that Spider-Man 3 is a load to shite.

#2 - Spider-Man 3
The movie's crap and the box office shows. Not even reaching $25mil is sort of terrible. Still, it's not as bad as Superman Returns from last year. Didn't that only make, like, $12mil?

#3 - Zodiac
The first instance of "WTF?" David Fincher's quietly ace Zodiac falls a tiny 11%. After a disappointing opening weekend (much like America) Zodiac is slowly making some nice moolah here, which is nice to see.

#4 - Romulus, My Father
This new Australia Eric Bana film made an impressive debut at #4 on only 45 screens. It had a per screen average of $7000+, which was enough for the third highest average in the top 10 after Off the Grid and Pirates. Could be on it's way to a couple of mil gross, which would be good news for this film. I saw it a few weeks back and it's quite nice, but nothing terribly exciting.

#5 - Georgie Rule
Another "WTF?" moment. Why, of all things, did Georgie Rule fall only 6% in it's fourth weekend? Makes no sense, really.

#6 - Breach
This "WTF?" moment falls only 5%! What's happening here? I'm glad this movie is doing alright considering it's supposedly quite good (I'm gonna wait for DVD though). Still, doesn't explain why it had the smallest fall in the entire chart.

#7 - Because I Said So
Another "WTF?" fall of only 11% in it's fifth weekend. I know my friend saw it this last weekend and I think it was more because there wasn't anything else to see, but still... huh?

#8 - 28 Weeks Later
Not even a horror movie gets a big fall. This one fell 14% in it's fourth weekend. It's amazing how this movie has just sort of died all over the world though. What went wrong? Was it the lack of anyone attached the original? Not enough advertising. Or, perhaps, people just couldn't be bothered seeing a sequel that looks exactly the same as the original. Perhaps...

#9 - Warren Miller's Off The Grid
Warren Miller's IMAX movies always too stratospheric business for a while and then disappear. On only three screens (up from two last week, which explains the 41%spike in business) it averaged nearly $50,000. Pirates only averaged just over $10,000.

#10 - Bridge to Terabithia (p/v)
The numbers for this movie are skewed because they're from preview screenings (which America does, but adds the numbers onto the total of another film). These only have one screening a day usually. I'm still confused as to why the posters for this movie advertise it as an animated movie when it's clearly not.

#11 - My Best Friend
This French film by Patrice Leconte (the amazing Girl on the Bridge) falls out of the top 10 with an 8% dip in revenue. These sorts of films always do reasonably well on the indie cinema circuit. And they usually do better here on a per capita basis than they do in America.

#12 - The History Boys
Has been a mild success here, grossing over $1mil so far. It falls 22% this week which is, amazingly, the fourth largest fall of any film in the top 20.

#13 - As It Is In Heaven
The biggest "WTF?" moment for the last few weeks has been the amazing resurgance of this Oscar-nominated Swedish film, which has been on the charts for a phenominally unheard of 53 weeks. In the last few weeks it has shown up in the top 20 for the first time since it's initial release. It has been doing the arthouse circuit around the country and I think it recently made it's way to Melbourne after so long in other cities like Sydney. I think I read somewhere that it's actually beaten Titanic in total ticket sales in some Sydney theatres. This week As It Is In Heaven increased it's gross by a whopping 53%. It's total is still only $1.1mil, but this is an amazing chart run. I didn't think this was even possible anymore.

#14 - Shooter
For some "WTF?" reason this 7-week-old film dipped only 16%. Why, exactly?

#15 - Noise
*explodes with joy* It makes me so happy to see this great Australian flick doing so well. It fell only 10% in it's fifth weekend and currently has nearly $600,000. I am sure you'll all be hearing much more about this movie in the upcoming months as we get closer to the AFI awards period - it'll be a big fixture of the awards, I can tell.

#16 - The Italian
This six-week-old Russian film has proved to be incredibly resilian for some reason. It really does appear that adults are seeking out films like this and Noise and The Lives of Others week after week. I'm sure Margaret Pomeranz' five-star rave helped it gain some extra audience members.

#17 - The Lives of Others
With a gross over over $2.2million, The German (very worthy) Oscar winner for Foreign Language Film has made more money than half of Hollywood's product this year. Last week it showed that after ten weeks it's starting to faulter, with a fall of 23%.

#18 - Paris Je'taime
This has proven to be yet another arthouse hit here in Australia with a gross of $1.2mil after 7 weeks (for American box office watchers, multiply any Aussie gross by 10 and you'll get a rough equiveland. So, following these trends, Paris should have $12mil in American box-office - it doesn't). It fells 11%. Amazing.

#19 - Reno 911!: Miami
It fell 41% in it's third weekend and has so far grossed about $400,000. Which is actually good because I didn't think anybody had even heard of this show over here.

#20 - Orchestra Seats
I believe this went by the name Avenue Montaigne in America and other places. It so far has nearly $150,000 to it's name. Impressive for this French movie, considering there's been so many French-lite movies lately.

Also debuting uncharted were that silly Pang Brothers flop Messengers, plus The Last Mimzy (?). The US Vs John Lennon made a splash on two screens and an average of over $10,000. Some movie called The End of the Spear also debuted - through the entire nation if made $6,532. Maybe if I knew what this movie was I'd have something to say about that.

5 Days to go...

...until Silverchair's new CD, Young Modern, is released. Five years after Diorama, and featuring what will surely go on to be one of the very best songs of the year ("Straight Lines"), Young Modern is sure to be a #1 smash. Will it be any good though? Well, the very first review of it in the Herald Sun gave it five stars (er, out of five), so I'm not worried. And even if it's not, then, well "Straight Lines" is still brilliance (which I've discussed before).

This Week in Australian Cinemas

A whole everything-and-the-kitchen-sink week down here, yet... not alot


The Nativity Story, 2006, dir. Hardwicke
I find it amusing that the director of thirteen and Lords of Dogtown is directing this, but alas... it looks sorta blah. Well, I haven't really seen much advertising for it to be honest. It's got Keisha Castle Hughes who is hilariously pregnant (but due to the ol' fashioned way I'm afraid) as Mary. It also has two actors I quite like in the form of Shohreh Aghdashloo (who won my 2003 Gold Medal for House of Sand and Fog) and up-and-coming actor Alexander Siddig (who was a Best Supporting Actor honourary mention and a Best Breakthrough nominee last year). Maybe on DVD...? Surely it's better than The Passion of the Christ though, right? RIGHT?

A Scanner Darkly, 2006, dir. Linklater
I'm torn over whether to see this one. It seems like one of those movies that I could easily sweep under the radar, but it certainly looks interesting. The animation is... interesting. The cast is... interesting (how many pot heads can they fit in a cast list?). The whole thing just seems interesting. But, interesting enough to plant down $10? I do love the poster's tag line though: “Everything is not going to be ok.”

Manderlay, 2005, dir. Von Trier
So I'm torn. I still really wanna see this and have been waiting for over a year for it... but... it's apparently really really bad. Not even Margaret Pomeranz liked it and even asked for Von Trier to stop his trilogy after this one. And when Pomeranz doesn't like a Von Trier movie then you're in trouble. What to do... what to do...

The Guardian, 2006, dir. Davis
I suppose if we have to put up with this in order for Kevin Costner to make more Upside of Anger-type movies then I suppose I can deal. At least the commercials are pretty.


Hunt Angels, 2006, dir. Morgan
This is one of the best Australian films of the year. I reviewed it over here. It's a docu-drama. It is a documentary in that there are talking heads and such and it uses stills and archival footage, but it's a drama in that actors play roles (Ben Mendlesohn and Victoria Hill are the leads) who recreate scenes (in front of green screens) and it tells a tale with a fictional narrative. It's all very fun to watch with all the actors placed inside actual photographs from the period. It's nominated for a bunch of AFI awards including Best Documentary and won Best Documentary at the FCCAA awards last month.

Open Season, 2006, dir. Allers, Culton & Stacchi
Oh, goodo! You can never get enough of the mix-matched animated talking animal subgenre, can you?! Oh, you can... never mind...

Rampage, 2006, dir. Gittoes
A sort of psuedo-sequel to Gittoes earier documentary Soundtrack to War. In that one Gittoes discovered how music played a part in the war on Iraq. In Rampage he goes into the "ghetto" of Miami and involves himself in the culture of one his Soundtrack subjects. Rap music ensues.

Unaccompanies Minors, 2006, dir. Feig
Wow. Never let me huff and puff about how we don't get enough movies at the same time as America. Because we're getting Paul Feig's (???) Unaccompanies Minors (starring Wilmer Vanderrama!) a whole week before the USA!! Wow! That totally makes up for getting Manderlay 8 months late, Marie Antoinette 3 months and so on and so on... Let it be known that after 17 votes on IMDb it has a rock-solid average score of 1.4/10. WAY TO GO!

Time to Leave [Le Temps qui Reste], 2005, dir. Ozon
Another year, Another Ozon.

Lower City [Cidade Baixa], 2005, dir. Machado
From IMDb: "Lifelong friends Deco and Naldinho, who own a small steaming boat in Bahia, meet strip-dancer Karinna. Both men fall for her and their friendship is deeply shattered." Okay then. So, it's sorta like Y Tu Mama Tambien on a boat.

BOX OFFICE
1. Borat! (1)
2. The Prestige (2)
3. The Santa Clause 3 (2)
4. Jackass Number 2 (3)
5. A Good Year (3)
6. Saw 3 (4)
7. Deck the Halls (1)
8. The Departed (7)
9. The Descent (1)
10. Catch a Fire (1)

What a stale box office. A Good Year, still in the Top 5, only made $312,000. That'd be like the #5 movie at the US box office making $3.12mil. Pathetic. Borat! however tops the charts with huge results in it's first week of release after one week of preview screenings (and considering the turnout last night when I saw it, it'll be #1 again next week too).

Everything else is stale until we get to #7 onwards. Deck the Halls debuts sorta pathetically, but these sort of movies never do that well in Australia (our Christmas is summer so nobody really cares for snow-themed movies). The Descent does alright at #9 and Catch a Fire at least manages a Top 10 spot here, unlike the US, but still quite pathetic results.

Debuting at #12 is Dhoom 2 with more solid results. Bollywood films continue to great in their opening week and then fizzle right away (except for the rare few). The Black Dahlia debuts at #13 with about $160,000. It's average of a little over $3000 beat the averages of the debuters, because it was only on 52 screens.

This Week in Australian Cinemas

I haven't done this for a few weeks. I'm not sure why. I just haven't. Although, can I just point out that one of my favourite and most researchable sites Movie Marshal has somehow disappeared from the world wide web. Visiting the link in the sidebar merely takes you to a place where you can purchase the URL. Sad. It was invaluable for my Australian box-office needs. Frowny faces all round.


The Black Dahlia, 2006, dir. de Palma
Oh lordy, was this movie SPECIAL! I mean, it's rare that you see a movie that is flawless (and I do mean flawless) in everything from costumes, art direction, cinematography, sound, choreography and then fails on every single other count of creative drive and acting. I mean, pretty much every performance here is laughably bad (except for three ladies in small roles: Fiona Shaw, Rose McGowen and Mia Kirshner as the Black Dahlia herself) and De Palma doesn't seem to have any idea as to what he's doing most of the time. It was truly a devine experience of stupendous absurdity. Seriously though, whatever movie Fiona, Rose and Mia think they're in is quite possibly this generation's Citizen Kane.

The Descent, 2005, dir. Marshall
All I have to say is: IT'S ABOUT TIME, DICKHEAD! Seriously, this has been out for some long the UK (in 2005!) and was released in the US a few months back. For whatever reason, they felt fit to release it now, which was nice of them wasn't it? I really wanna see this movie. The fact that it's directed by Neil Marshall (who previously made the rare quality werewolf movie Dog Soldiers) is a good indication of it's quality. Oh, and the line on the poster "the scariest movie since Alien" gets me pumped cause y'all know - that movie scared the bejesus outta me!

The Light [L'Équipier], 2004, dir. Lioret
Umm... it's a French movie, set in a Polish lighthouse. It looked intriguing when David and Margaret reviewed it on At the Movies, but unfortunately seems a little too small and light to even consider until DVD. It was nominated for a few Cesar awards including Best Actor (Philippe Torreton) and Supporting Actress (Emilie Dequenne)

Deck the Halls, 2006, dir. Whitesell
For all of those people who always dreamed that that episode of Home Improvement or this episode or this episode or this episode would be extended to 95 minutes and have Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick in the leads. Deck the Halls also reminds me of that silly Christmas with the Kranks from a few years back (which I toyed with seeing purely because it had Jamie Lee Curtis, alas, I resisted because of the stench of - hello again - Tim Allen from Home Improvement.

Catch a Fire, 2006, dir. Noyce
Poor Phillip Noyce. He's apprently made a good movie yet nobody cared. I must say, Apartheid is not one of my favourite movie themes and it [the movie] generally doesn't look that thrilling (Tim Robbins looks embarassing). Maybe I'll catch up with it on DVD. Noyce, however, should be used to this. His Rabbit-Proof Fence was shamefully ignored outside of Australia.

The Caiman [Il Caimano], 2006, dir. Moretti
Umm... Nanni Moretti? If you're a fan I suppose this is for you, but I've never seen any of his flicks and, I'm being blunt here, I ain't gonna rectify that now.

Oh, and lastly, a little movie called Borat goes into national release.

BOX OFFICE
1. The Prestige (1)
2. Borat (1 - Preview Screenings)
3. Jackass Number Two (2)
4. The Santa Clause 3 (1)
5. Saw 3 (5)
6. A Good Year (2)
7. The Departed (6)
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (1)
9. Little Miss Sunshine (6)
10. The Wrong Man (2)

The Prestige debuts at #1 here with identical numbers to the US ($1.4mil here, $14mil in the US = identical). Probably will stay on for a while because of Hugh Jackman and the fact that the other 2006 Magician movie The Illusionist hasn't been released here (and won't be til 2007, obviously). Borat scores a great debut in a week of preview screenings. Borat didn't however top the earnings of The Devil Wears Prada when it debuted in preview screenings around the country (and Borat was on more screens too) - Prada, by the way, is still at #12 and has made over $16mil, which is phenomenal. Truly astonishing.

A Good Year has made over $2mil because of blanket trailering at cinemas (seriously, I saw that trailer about 10 times) and Russell Crowe's status. Still, it's quite pathetic. The Departed crossed the $10mil mark, Texas flops ($287,000 on debut - ouch) and you can see the rest.

As I mentioned Movie Marshall doesn't seem to exist anymore so I can only provide the top 10 and nothing else (MM provided the top 20 with extensive details). It's majorly sad.

This Week in Australian Cinemas

A fairly blah set of releases this week, as all of them are niche films. There is some bright spots though that look intriguing. Plus, we get (for the second week in a row after Children of Men) a decent-profiled film debuting here weeks before the US. Still, I'd much rather have Marie Antoinette, Volver, The Fountain, Babel, The Queen, etc at the same time as the US that two films before. Bah. I hate distributers more than... something else I hate.


Fast Food Nation, 2006, dir. Linklater
Richard Linklater's adaptation of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation arrives on Australian screens a full three weeks ahead of the US, so, umm... yay. However, I doubt that this film will be anywhere near as good as Children of Men. However, it has a very large cast, which is very interesting. Greg Kinnear, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Bruce Willis, Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale (let us ogle him yet again), Wilmer Vanderrama, Paul Dano (from Little Miss Sunshine if the name isn't familiar), Ethan Hawke, Luis Guzman, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne and Cherami Leigh. The film was shown in competition at Cannes, but that's never a guarantee of quality. Still, I might check it out.

Spellbound With Crossword Puzzles Wordplay, 2006, dir. Creadon
Worldplay is one these new-age hipster documentaries like Mad Hot Ballroom that are trying to follow in Spellbound's giant massive near-unpassable footsteps by taking a typically geeky/boring/silly/niche recreational activity (here, the New York Times' crossword puzzle) and make it and it's participants appeal to a mass audience. The problem is that Spellbound is freakin' SPELLBOUND and it's damn hard to beat that. Still, this could prove to be an entertaining DVD rental.

The Grudge 2, 2006, dir. Shimizu
A look at director Takashi Shimizu's IMDb filmography is quite startling. He has three Ju-On: The Grudge film's listed (they would be the Japanese version of the franchse) plus the two American versions (still set in Japan though). I really think it's time for Shimizu to give up on this franchise already. Not even Wes Craven directed more than one Nightmare on Elm Street (until Wes Craven's New Nightmare but that's a whole different beast). I don't know what it is with these Japanese horror directors. Hideo Nakata of the Ringu franchise is the same. Notice how I'm not talking about the actual movie? Yeah, that's because the original American Grudge (well, all of them really) is one of the worst movies I've seen in a cinema for a long time. Like, was there even a plot until the last 10 minutes? And I got sick of the whole 10 minute vignette leading up to a predictable scare involving those stupid white-faced dead people, after the second one. Ugh. And why is Teresa Palmer (left) who was impressive and recently AFI nominated in 2:37. Blah.

Suburban Mayhem, 2006, dir. Goldman
Speaking of AFI nominations, Suburban Mayhem from director Paul Goldman (who recently made Australian Rules) received 12 nominations. Emily Barclay is looking pretty solid for the win I think. She really impressed me in 2004's New Zealand film In My Father's Den and was the best thing (and AFI nominated again) for the TV movie The Silence. This film is about Katrina, as she plans to murder her father and then... do stuff? I'm not really sure. It's gotten a very mixed responce (some say it's great, others most definitely not). But, seriously, that poster is brilliant. So good that I want it for my wall even if the movie is shithouse. I'm definitely gonna seek this movie out.

No. 2, 2006, dir. Fraser
This is an adaptation of a one-woman show, yet it has a big giant cast. Talk about adapting to the cinema! No. 2 is a New Zealand film (one of their highest grossing ever, I believe) that bares are striking resemblance to many other ethnic-minority films. The one where the old matriarch decides to put on a big giant feast. This time the woman is selecting a successor, which must be something of native New Zealand culture that doesn't make sense to me. But, whatever. It stars African-American legend Ruby Dee as the matriarch. Looks more DVD-friendly to me, but who knows.

Trust the Man, 2006, dir. Freundlich
So me and my two besties (Hi Hannah and Georgie!!!) go to the movies a lot on Tuesday's because it's cheap ticket Tuesday. They've mentioned on numerous times that they want to see this movie because it has Julianne Moore and Maggie Gyllenhaal (two actress I definitely l-o-v-e) but something just keeps making me resist it. There are many directors out there who fall into the Woody Allen lite category (most recently, Ben Younger and his film Prime), and Bart Freundlich definitely looks to be in that category with this film, which also stars David Duchovny, Billy Crudup, Garry Shandling and Eva Mendes. It just seems like such a DVD movie. But, I do love me some Moore and Gyllenhaal (and in Moore's case, there's no lost children in sight!!!)

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, 2005, dir. Ireland
All I'm gonna say is: THIS LOOKS AWFUL. At least Ladies in Lavender looked mild. This one looks like a barely reanimated corpse limping around with no place to go.

Women of the Sun: 25 Years Later, 2006, dir. Weis
This is a follow-up documentary to the 1981 Australian mini-series Women of the Sun, which followed four Aboriginal women. Seems like it should've been put on TV though.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: 3D, 1993/2006, dir. Sellick
On October 31, The Nightmare Before Christmas gets a 3D release. However, it's an incredibly limited release so I probably won't have the chance to see it. DAMN YOU!!!!

BOX OFFICE
1. The Departed (2)
2. BoyTown (1)
3. The Devil Wears Prada (4)
4. Little Miss Sunshine (3)
5. Children of Men (1)
6. Crank (1)
7. Step Up (4)
8. Kenny (10)
9. Garfield 2 (7)
10. The Covenant (2)

The Departed remains at #1 in it's second week with $1.8mil, falling only 28% - a great hold no matter what. It still has the best per screen average in the top 10 (beating Little Miss Sunshine by $500) and looks to stay at the top next week considering the releases on offer.

New Aussie comedy BoyTown scores the best debut for the Australian film all year (and the best since Wolf Creek at the end of 2005) with (and this is the exact number) $998,719. So close to $1mil! Hopefully this will have some decent word of mouth, but I fear they released it at the wrong time. The film is aimed more-than-somewhat towards teens and uni students, yet as of right now they're all in study and exam mode. The Devil Wears Prada slides another 37% to just a few hundred thousand under one million. It has so far grossed $13.6mil with much more in the tank. This movie is a definite big motha hit and as of now is the highest grosser in the top 20.

Little Miss Sunshine slips a scant 10% in it's second week of national release. It so far as $2.3mil and will definitely reach at least $4mil, but will hopefully go higher. Children of Men debuts at #5 with just under $800,000 (it grossed $2000 less than LMS to miss out on fourth spot). That may not sound good, but considering the only advertising I saw was a trailer in front of The Departed, it's pretty good. Where was the TV campaign? Crank debuts one spot lower but with only $432,000. It'll be a distant memory in a week.

Step Up hangs around because there's nothing for teenage girls. Kenny moves back into the top 10 in it's tenth week, with a rise of 4% in takings. It now has $5.6mil and should hit at least $6.5mil. Now that school holidays are over, Garfield 2 falls 69 laughable per cent. The Convenant falls 58%.

Elsewhere, at #11, World Trace Center is going to go down as a big miss in Australia. It barely has $2mil and has the fourth-lowest per screen avarage in the Top 20. New entry Don at #15 does great with an average of over $8000 and An Inconvenient Truth approaches $3mil. Irresistable falls 39% in it's second week and will approach $300,000 by the end of it's run. Everything else is dead weight kids films that are dying now that school is back in. Debuting outside the Top 20 was Roberto Benigni's The Tiger and the Snow which debuted with a laughable $22,000 and an average of $1,128. Go back home, Roberto!

This Week in Australian Cinemas

A much more adult-oriented release schedule this week (No Ricky Bobbys or Beerfests this week) includes one title I am really quite desperate to see and another that I sorta want to see. Sort of.


A Priarie Home Companion, 2006, dir. Altman
I've wanted to see this film for so long and we finally get it now. Even if it weren't directed by Robert Altman (whose last couple of films I've enjoyed immensely), there would be the cast, which along with Bobby, is one of the most eclectic ensembles in a while. It's not filled with big giant movie stars (well, there are a couple). Look at this cast: Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline, John C Reilly, Virginia Madsen, Tommy Lee Jones and it even has Marylouise Burke! I haven't seen her since her hilariously evil Nurse Connie in Series 7: The Contenders. Then add to that original Prairie man and the film's screenwriter Garrison Keillor. I must see this movie as soon as possible.

World Trade Center, 2006, dir. Stone
I'm still not sure about this. I saw United 93 and the trailer for this one is sterling enough. I've heard many different opinions (from "bad" to "meh" to "great").

Sketches of Frank Gehry, 2006, dir. Pollack
Sydney Pollack's latest is a documentary about the renowned architect Frank Gehry. His most famous designs are the Vitra Design Musem in Germany, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and, most famously, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain.

Hephzibar, 1998, dir. Levy
No, that's not an error. This film won the Best Documentary prize from the Australian Film Institute AND the Film Critics Circle of Australia... in 1998. Who knows why it took so long, but 8 years later it's finally getting a release. It's a doco about famous pianist (and social activist) Hephzibar Menuhin. Narrated by Kerry Armstrong (I have no problem with her doing this sort of work) and directed by Curtis Levy who, more recently, made a big splash with his award-winning doco The President Vs. David Hicks, about the Australian Taliban fighter locked up in Guantanamo Bay.

Lastly, Little Miss Sunshine gets preview screenings this weekend.

BOX OFFICE
1. The Devil Wears Prada (1)
2. Step Up (1)
3. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2)
4. Monster House (3)
5. Garfield 2 (4)
6. Barnyard (2)
7. The Wild (3)
8. The Ant Bully (3)
9. Stormbreaker (4)
10. An Inconvenient Truth (3)

The Devil Wears Prada cleans up the place at number 1 after debuting at #2 last week with over $1mil in PREVIEW SCREENINGS alone. That's a record, folks. This week it has already amassed $4.95mil. Step Up also makes a great debut at #2 (earning more per cinema than Prada, but it had no advance screenings so it has an advantage in that department, while appearing on nearly 200 less screens). These teen-girl dance movies are pretty much the safest bet possible at the Aussie box office. Take the Lead was a huge success earlier in the year.

Yawn over the rest of the list though, filled with left overs and kids movies (it's still school holidays down here). Garfield and Barnyard fall 8 and 10 per cent respectively, while The Wild and The Ant Bully are UP 76 and 67 per cent respectively (this is what happens when different states have different holiday timetables). An Inconvenient Truth falls 30% but has nearly racked up $2mil, which is a fine tally.

Outside of the Top 10 the only new entries are Beerfest at #14 and Aquamarine at #17 with a downright pathetic screen average of $849. Ouch. Iranian import Offside does just under $10,000 on 4 screens. Kenny falls out of the top 10 after six weeks and finally passes the $4mil mark. I doubt it can pass Jindayne total of just over $5mil. Lastly, The Wind that Shakes the Barley falls 23% in it's second week and has just under $400,000 so far.