Beats previous weekend record by more than 25%
Ster-Kinekor has announced this morning (April 07) that the record for the biggest weekend box office has once again been broken. The record-breaking weekend, aided by the national release of Fast & Furious 7 on Thursday, 02 April, has driven box office sales and cinema attendances for a weekend to a record high (as well as the biggest Monday in the cinema chain’s recorded history).
This follows the achievement of its biggest box office for a single day – Valentine’s Day – when Fifty Shades of Grey helped smash the company’s previous best box office day by a massive 47% (all figures have been adjusted for inflation).
With Fast & Furious 7 screening at all sites, including its luxurious Cine Prestige cinemas and the immersive IMAX® theatres, the weekend box office numbers beat the previous record for a weekend by more than 25%. The company has also broken its record for the biggest attendance for a Monday by 21%.
“The mood was set with the special pre-release screening of this much-anticipated film in the Fast & Furious franchise, on Wednesday, 01 April. From there on, ticket sales just took off! All our cinemas across the country performed well over the Easter weekend, resulting in it being our biggest and busiest weekend ever, in recorded history,” says Doug Place, Marketing Executive of Ster-Kinekor Theatres.
“Obviously, sites that house our specialised cinema offerings also proved to be the most popular, with many of these sold-out weeks before the film’s release. Watching this film in the comfort of a Cine Prestige theatre or on the massive IMAX screen takes cinema viewing of an action-packed, thrills-and-spills-a-minute film such as Fast & Furious 7 to the next level,” comments Place.
“Whilst Fast & Furious 7 took pole position in racing to these record breaking figures over the long weekend, there were also strong box office performances from other titles currently on the Ster-Kinekor circuit. These include the weekend release of Disney’s Cinderella,Home (now in its second week) and the local film Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling, in its third week on the circuit.
“The question we are now asking ourselves is: how many more box office records will be broken at Ster-Kinekor cinemas this year? With the imminent release of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron on April 24 locally, a whole week before its official US release, we are also expecting a great performance from this title, considering it will also be available in 3D (unlike Fifty Shades of Grey and Fast & Furious 7)and will also enjoy an IMAX and Cine Prestige release.
“In fact, we are confident that with the exciting slate of titles we have lined up as we head towards the second half of the year – includingthe new Minions movie (July 10), Mission Impossible 5 (August 7), Spectre (the new Bond film releasing on November 27), the final installment of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (November 2015) and the eagerly-awaited return of Star Wars with Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens on the big screen in December – 2015 will prove to be the biggest box office year in Ster-Kinekor’s history.
“To add to this exciting news, Ster-Kinekor announced just last week that it will open two new IMAX® theatres in June this year. The first will be the refurbishment of one of the cinemas at its existing site at Cradlestone Mall in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, while the second will form part of a brand new Ster-Kinekor complex opening at Baywest Mall in Port Elizabeth.
“With an IMAX theatre also opening at the refurbished Ster-Kinekor site at Eastgate in September this year, this latest deal brings Ster-Kinekor’s IMAX experience offering to six theatres across the country, in under two years. Such a great format combined with such great films is sure to break even more records as South African cinema audiences continue to swell,” concludes Place.
For more information and to make bookings, visit the website, www.sterkinekor.com
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