Following on its record opening day last Thursday, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom emerged as the highest-grossing film in South Africa this past weekend, earning R4 431 228, outgrossing Schuks! Your Country Needs You, which earned R3 635 876. It also outgrossed the opening weekend box office of some of the biggest studio films of the year, including Hunger Games – Catching Fire, World War Z, The Wolverine and Hangover 3.
The film has been playing brilliantly to diverse audiences from the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, to Gateway in Durban, The Zone @ Rosebank, Sterland in Pretoria, and the Mall of the North in Polokwane, all of which were among the best-performing cinemas in the country.
Producer Anant Singh said, “I am extremely pleased with the audience reaction. I visited a few cinemas over the weekend and experienced the emotional response to the film, with audiences leaving the cinemas completely satisfied. For me as a filmmaker, this is really fulfilling.”
The film also opened in the United States on Friday, 29 November, with exclusive engagements in New York and Los Angeles, earning an average of $25 076 per screen, the highest this past weekend.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a Videovision Entertainment release through United International Pictures (South Africa).