SA’s box office: Inxeba (The Wound) opens in sixth despite protests

The South African film on everyone’s lips, Inxeba (The Wound), has opened in an impressive sixth spot on the box office charts despite being subject to several protests across the country this week.

Some cinemas showing the film, which tells the story of forbidden love between initiates in an isiXhosa initiation, cancelled screenings after receiving death threats. Protesters found the depiction of initiation rituals on screen to be insensitive to the private nature of the rite.

South African film Inxeba (The Wound) was the subject of several protests for depicting the isiXhosa initiation rite

Despite the film’s controversial nature, though, Inxeba has performed well as a South African film at the box office, on par with the likes of last year’s Kalushi.

But how did other films fare this weekend? (2 – 4 February)

It’s been a strong six weeks for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle here in South Africa. It opened top of the charts in December, stayed there for four weeks, dropped to second when Maze Runner: The Death Cure premiered last week, and has now bounced back up to first.

And it’s not just cruising here: the star-studded sequel has pulled in US$857.6-million worldwide on a production budget of US$90-million, meaning it may just make back its budget tenfold. That’s outright impressive.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is back on top after one week in second place

Jumanji‘s bounce back to the top pushed the Maze Runner sequel down to second in its second week on the charts. Newcomer Den of Thieves, a Gerard Butler-led heist film, opened in third. Other performances were pretty standard: The Commuter, The Greatest Showman, and Ferdinand dropped one each, and The Post held firm in eighth.

The biggest drop of the week was by none other than Pitch Perfect 3, down four from fifth to ninth. Proud Mary, which opened in seventh last week, also swiftly fell off the chart, making way for the Winston Churchill biopic The Darkest Hour to open in tenth spot.

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

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Incl. 3D, IMAX, 4DX & D.BOX)** (+1)
2. Maze Runner: The Death Cure (Incl 3D, IMAZ, 4DX & D.BOX) (-1)
3. Den of Thieves (NEW)
4. The Commuter (Incl. IMAX & D.BOX) (-1)
5. The Greatest Showman (-1)
6. Inxeba (The Wound) (NEW)
7. Ferdinand (Incl. 3D) (-1)
8. The Post (±0)
9. Pitch Perfect 3 (-4)
10. The Darkest Hour (NEW)

**Highest life-to-date grosser with R55 019 276.

The above list was provided by Ster-Kinekor Entertainment.