South Africa’s box office: Logan dominates Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades Darker is finally out of stamina and has been ousted from its three week-long stint on top, proving unable to compete with the sexiness that is Hugh Jackman in Logan: The Wolverine. The X-Men standalone movie is the last time we’ll see Jackman roughed up and sporting metal claws, and South Africans have rushed to the cinema to view the character in all his final Australian glory. But how did the other films on the circuit fare this weekend (3 to 5 March 2017)?

South Africa’s very own Keeping Up with the Kandasamy’s debuted in third place and raked in R1,6 million on its opening weekend. Here’s holding thumbs that its success alerts SA producers that Afrikaans romcoms aren’t the only films with selling power in this country. The film even beat Matt Damon’s blockbuster The Great Wall, which was knocked down two places to fourth in its second weekend.

The Lego Batman Movie (review) took the biggest fall this week, dropping from its third place high all the way down to seventh, hinting at the fact that South Africans only have room in their hearts for one superhero at a time.

The only other animated film that cracked the top 10 this weekend was fifth-placed Rock Dog — a film about a guard dog who just wants to make music. And as with superheroes, so too with dogs. A Dog’s Purpose also fell down four positions to tenth place this week, likely because it failed to mention a dog’s true purpose: rocking out.

Hidden Figures (review) is the last Oscar-nominated film standing this week at ninth place, as La La Land dropped right off the chart from last week’s ninth spot.

The top 10 title with the highest life-to-date gross is, unsurprisingly, Fifty Shades Darker which has pulled in R28 772 241. It has overtaken Sing, which cracked just under R28-million.

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

1. Logan: The Wolverine (incl. Imax & 3D)
2. Fifty Shades Darker
3. Keeping Up with the Kandasamy’s
4. The Great Wall (incl. 3D & Imax)
5. Rock Dog (incl. 3D)
6. Fist Fight
7. Lego Batman Movie (incl 3D & 4DX)
8. xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (incl 3D, Imax & 4DX)
9. Hidden Figures
10. A Dog’s Purpose

All stats were provided by Ster Kinekor Entertainment.