SA box office: American Made in Hitman’s shade

Hitman’s Bodyguard has held on to the top spot for the third weekend in a row after a relatively boring week at the movies. Competing with newcomer American Made (starring Tom Cruise as a commercial pilot recruited by the CIA and later by a drug cartel), the comedy needed only Samuel L Jackson and Ryan Reynolds’ star power to sell itself to South Africans for yet another week.

But did anything remotely interesting happen this weekend? (1 – 3 September)

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Surprisingly, yes. The little-indie-animation-that-could Son of Bigfoot has entered its fourth week in third place, where it debuted last month. The Belgian feature could just outdo Keeping Up with the Kandasamy’s, the South African film that held on to third for four weeks earlier this year. Considering the film is airing alongside the year’s highest grossing animation Despicable Me 3, Bigfoot has put on nothing short of a triumphant display.

American Made had to settle for second place behind The Hitman’s Bodyguard

The second-biggest drop of the week was Charlize Theron-led Atomic Blonde, because if homegirl wants to move away and change her accent then South Africans are not going to keep her film afloat. It’s a trade-off that cost the action film three whole spots, as it fell from second all the way down to fifth.

Romantic comedy The Bounce Back has tried to bounce back itself after a terrible domestic opening weekend in December last year. The US$3-million budget film was expected to pull in US$1.3-million, but opened to a dismal US$227-thousand instead. In South Africa, the film opened in a respectable seventh place, but the damage is already done.

The biggest drop of the week goes to Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, which fell hard from sixth to tenth. The film opened to critical acclaim, and outdid expectations at the box office (it made over US$200-million from just a US$34-million budget), but will see the last of SA cinemas this week.

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

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

The above list was provided by Ster Kinekor Entertainment.