South Africa’s king of comedy, Leon Schuster, is also the king of the local box office, with his films Mr Bones, Mr Bones 2 and Mama Jack being the all time biggest local box office hits. His new film, Schuks Tshabalala’s Survival Guide to South Africa, has now become his biggest earner, surpassing his previous record-holder, Mr Bones 2 for earnings over the concurrent number of weeks of its release in 2008.
Says producer Lance Samuels of Out of Africa Entertainment: “At this stage it seems fairly certain that Schuks Tshabalala will surpass the life to date takings of all previous Schuster-helmed feature films,’ says producer Lance Samuels, of Out of Africa Entertainment. “Schuks Tshabalala has already superseded the life to date takings of Mama Jack (R 27.2m in 2005) and Schuster’s Oh Schuks I’m Gatvol (R 23.4m in 2004).’
.
At the end of its sixth weekend on circuit Mr Bones 2 had earned R 29.3m according to the industry Top 10. Schuks Tshabalala has earned R 29.5m in the same period, placing it 2% ahead of Mr Bones 2 for the weeks in question.
Following its release on 28 May, Schuks Tshabalala’s Survival Guide to South Africa held the number one position on South Africa’s top 10 films at the box office for four consecutive weeks against stiff competition including Sex and the City 2, Robin Hood, Iron Man 2 and Prince of Persia.
“Schuks Tshabalala has already earned itself the number six position on South Africa’s all time top 10 after less than six full weeks on circuit,’ adds Helen Kuun, head of Indigenous Film Distribution, which is handling the film in the country.
Schuks Tshabalala earned 8% more in weekend two than Mr Bones 2, 17% more in weekend three, 42% more in weekend four, 29% more in weekend five and 56% more this past weekend than the correlating weekends for Mr Bones 2. Mr Bones 2 holds the number three position on the Top 10 releases of all time in South Africa after Avatar (in first place), and Titanic (in second place).
