Local weekend box office – Leon Schuster can’t beat some wizards

A good number of years ago Gavin got to interview Leon Schuster, and while chatting to him he asked the South African filmmaking legend exactly what most of us have been wondering: Why did he keep making these incredibly dumb, low-brow, rather terrible comedies? It was simple, the veteran funnyman revealed: he kept making them because that’s what people kept turning up to see en masse.

There was no arguing that point as for a veeeeeery long time Schuster’s Mr Bones had the biggest grossing debut in SA box office history and his every release drew huge crowds. That type of instant smash-hit heyday is long behind Schuster though, as can be attested by the 67-year old’s latest effort, Frank and Fearless, which failed to dethrone last week’s box office champ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

After its much-welcomed strong opening last week, the Fantastic Beasts sequel held strong in first place with a R2.8 million sophomore take. Frank and Fearless was quite a bit off the pace as it opened in 2nd place with R1.4 million, not exactly a huge sum. In fact, the film had a close fight with Gerard Butler-led submarine actioner Hunter Killer (which also has a local connection as it’s directed by Donavan “Spud” Marsh) which debuted in 3rd place with R1.1 million. Hunter Killer opened in 20 cinemas fewer than Frank and Fearless, so the former actually had a bigger per-theatre average as well.

There were two other new releases on the weekend in I Still See You and Shock & Awe, but both had very limited releases so they barely made an impact as they opened way down the charts. As most of the other entries just dropped a place or two – with the exception of Widows which fell four spots – there was only one highlight as Kevin Hart comedy Night School somehow improved slightly despite being in its 9th week of release already.

Let’s see what the rest of the South African box office chart looks like:

[table ai=”1/No.” class=”table table-striped” tablesorter=”1″]
Movie Name, Weekend gross, Percentage change, Local gross, Last Week’s Position

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,R2.8 million,-42%,R9.5 million,1st

Frank and Fearless,R1.4 million,NE,R1.4 million,NE

Hunter Killer,R1.1 million,NE,R1.1 million,NE

Nobody’s Fool,R1 million,-1%,R6.9 million,4th

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, R557 729,-26%,R4.1 million,3rd

Night School,R498 892,+4%,R19.6 million,6th

A Star is Born,R495 704,-21%,R10.9 million,5th

Widows,R495 330,-22%,R1.4 million,4th

Venom,R319 602,-24%,R23.1 million,7th

Smallfoot,R304 813,-25%,R14.7 million,8th

[/table]

NE = New Entry