The battle of the Tonys was fought last weekend at the Thai box office, with ancient warrior Tony Jaa in Ong-Bak 3 going up against the hi-tech war machine Iron Man 2, featuring Robert Downey Jr. as the slick and charming billionaire Tony Stark.
Iron Man 2, in its second week of release in Thailand, held on to the top spot, earning $713,817 or about 23 million baht. Ong-Bak 3 grossed $555,823 (about 17.9 million baht) in its opening weekend. Iron Man 2, released by United International Pictures, was on 194 screens vs. Sahamongkol's Ong-Bak 3 with 135.
That's all according to the latest Box Office Mojo chart.
Iron Man 2 has also been dominating other Thai films. In its April 29-May 2 opening weekend, Iron Man 2 stomped on Phranakorn's snake thriller Kheaw Aa-Kaard (The Intruder), which was No. 2 at $58,644. The historical epic Kon Thai Ting Pandin (The Edge of the Empire), in third with $44,113, a big disappointment for studio Kantana, which spent around 90 million baht to make the movie.
The strong box-office showing for Iron Man 2 is despite that Bangkok's biggest cinemas -- Paragon Cineplex and SF World Cinema at CentralWorld -- have been closed for around a month because of the red-shirt anti-government protesters, who have occupied the Rajprasong shopping district. Four other theaters, the EGV Metropolis and the three Apex cinemas in Siam Square, have shuttered as well. The cinema shutdown also takes Thailand's only IMAX screen, the Krungsri IMAX at Siam Paragon, out of action. It was scheduled to show Iron Man 2: The IMAX Experience.
Prior to Iron Man 2 opening, the box office was ruled by Clash of the Titans, which was No. 1 the weekends of April 22-25, April 8-11 and April 1-4 (topping the Sahamongkol comedy Saranae Siblor).
The Thai karmic thriller 9 Wat held its own against Titans on its opening weekend, April 15-18. Released by Oriental Eyes, it earned $282,055, about 9 million baht, from 42 screens vs. Titans' 79.
Another recent Thai release, M39 studio's breakdancing drama Big Boy, debuted at No. 3 the weekend of April 8-11, behind Saranae Siblor and Clash of the Titans.
The indie-studio action drama Noo Gunpai (The Scrollmaster), is not reported on the Box Office Mojo charts.
This is a bye week for Thai cinema, with no new local films coming out, making room for Ridley Scott's and Russell Crowe's Robin Hood as well as Hong Kong martial-arts action from Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung in Ip Man 2.
well Thai suckers are not interested in Martial Arts, reason why most of them dislike Ong Bak 2.
ReplyDeleteAnd Iron Man 2 was a piece of sh movie!