South Africa’s box office: Girls Trip arrives at number one

Chick flick Girls Trip has smashed into first place this weekend despite its small budget and macho competition. Opening just ahead of Edgar Wright’s much-hyped Baby Driver, the women-led film surpassed expectations both locally and abroad, pulling in US$90-million on a US$20-million budget in two weeks.

Baby Driver has hardly had a bad run, though, and has so far made US$154-million from US$34-million in just over a month. But how did the other films fare this weekend? (4 to 6 August)

The tag-teaming opening duo fought well and pushed Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed Dunkirk (review) down to third after just one week at the top. The war epic places Harry Style’s acting debut in second place for pop star debuts behind Beyoncé in Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Despicable Me 3 and Spider-Man: Homecoming (review) both dropped down two spots with Dunkirk. The former is still South Africa’s current highest life-to-date grosser with R41 584 494.

Chick flick Girls Trip has smashed into first place this weekend despite its small budget and macho competition

The biggest drop of the week was shared by Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (review) and War for the Planet of the Apes, both of which dropped three to seventh and eighth respectively. Valerian has yet to make back its US$177-million budget despite its significantly wide release. War, on the other hand, has nearly doubled its own.

South African film Krotoa — about the famous Khoi woman who served as a translator for the Dutch in the 1600s — opened in ninth spot this weekend ahead of period drama Viceroy’s House. The biopic has won eight international awards, including Best Film at the Harlem International Film Festival in New York.

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

1. Girls Trip
2. Baby Driver (Incl. IMAX)
3. Dunkirk (Incl. IMAX)
4. Despicable Me 3 (Incl. 3D)
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming (Incl. 3D, 4DX & IMAX)
6. Captain Underpants (Incl. 3D)
7. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (Incl. 3D, 4DX & IMAX)
8. War for the Planet of the Apes (Incl. 3D)
9. Krotoa
10. Viceroy’s House

The above list was provided by Ster Kinekor Entertainment.