Going up against the Caped Crusader – or indeed any superhero – at the box office is a daunting prospect at present, but both the Channing Tatum-led Dog and anime Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie opened decently last weekend.

The former, distributed by Roadshow and directed by Tatum and Reid Carolin, opened to $1.3 million from 343 screens – the best opening for the film outside of North America and the UK.

The canine buddy road comedy premiered in Australia about a month behind other territories; it has made $US54 million in North America so far and $62 million worldwide – a good result for a film said to have cost $US15 million to produce.

Exhibitors canvassed by IF report mixed results. Wallis Cinemas’ programming manager David Simpson regarded the result at his circuit as “heartening”, while Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell said the film beat The Batman at some of his sites across regional NSW and Queensland.

However, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace GM Alex Temesvari said the film was a “major disappointment” for his Sydney cinema after strong previews.

“It’s hard to say why the film didn’t fire for our audience and it’s certainly not due to lack of awareness,” he said.

Meanwhile Madman’s anime Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie came in at third, grossing $929,091 from just 140 screens – a screen average of $6,636, almost on par with that of The Batman.

The film, which first premiered in Japan last December, is based on the manga series of the same name by Gege Akutami. It also opened in the US/Canada over the weekend, where it performed above expectation at $US17.6 million.

Of course, The Batman led the weekend for a third time with receipts of $4.1 million, a drop of just 43 per cent. At $29.3 million, Australia is the third highest grossing international territory for the film behind UK and Mexico. Worldwide, the film is edging towards $US600 million.

Overall the box office is a little quiet, with Numero data showing the top 20 titles gathering $9.1 million last weekend, down 22 per cent on the previous.

Now in its fifth week, Sony’s Uncharted came in at fourth position, dropping just 37 per cent to $857,832, advancing to $16.5 million.

Zee Studios’ The Kashmir Files saw the biggest boost of any holdover title, coming in at fifth with $532,367 from 55 screens, up 446 per cent on its opening weekend. The Hindi-language film, directed by Vivek Agnihorti, follows the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the Kashmir Insurgency. Based on per screen average, it was the best performing title in the top 20 last weekend, making $9,679 per screen. It has made $795,637 in total.

Belfast continues to hold extremely well week-on-week for Universal, dropping only 19 per cent in its seventh frame with $228,914, advancing to $4.5 million. Kenneth Branagh’s other film, Disney mystery Death on the Nile, garnered $193,061 in its sixth, moving to $6.1 million.

Roadshow’s Monster Family 2 is also holding well, dropping 26 per cent to $188,115 in its third weekend. At $994,417 in total, the animated sequel has already surpassed the original, which made just $487K.

Coming in at ninth position was Bachchan Paandey, from Forum Films, which opened to $130,622 from 59 screens, an average of $2,214. The film follows a budding director tries to research a merciless gangster for a film on gangsters, who then gets caught for snooping.

Rounding out the top 10 was Sing 2, which after 13 weekends stands on $20 million for Universal, having made another $126,704.

The weekend also saw the release of two Australian films: Ivan Sen’s Loveland, via Dark Matter Distribution and Danny Cohen’s Anonymous Club via Film Art Media, though the latter’s figures were not reported by Numero.

Sen’s film, which stars Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten and Jillian Nguyen, premiered outside the top 20 with $21,639 from 22 screens, exemplifying the difficult local titles have had in making cut through of late, particularly as older audiences have been slow to return to cinemagoing.

David Simpson said while Loveland “looks and sounds good” it unfortunately “fell wide of the mark”.

Of the other Australian titles in release, Madman’s Facing Monsters is on $219,260 after two weekends, and stablemate Blind Ambition $114,613 after three. PTB/Hadden Films’ A Stitch in Time has grossed $177,247 after five weekends, and Radioactive Pictures’ Ruby’s Choice $141,159 in three.

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