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 431 228.00, outgrossing Schuks! Your Country Needs You which earned R 3 635 876. 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 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).
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom is an Anant Singh presentation of a Justin Chadwick film. A Videovision Entertainment production in association with Distant Horizon, Origin Pictures, Pathe, Industrial Development Corporation Of South Africa and National Empowerment Fund. The film stars Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Lindiwe Matshikiza, Terry Pheto, Jamie Bartlett, and Deon Lotz. Music is composed by Alex Heffes with Music Contributions from Caiphus Semenya, Blondie Makhene and Dizu Plaatjies. The Co-Producers Robert Naidoo, Brian Cox, Vlokkie Gordon, Hlengiwe Makhathini with Executive Producers Cameron McCracken, François Ivernel, Geoffrey Qhena, Basil Ford, Philisiwe Mthethwa, Harvey Weinstein, Sudhir Pragjee and Sanjeev Singh, and Producer for Origin Pictures is David M. Thompson. Produced by Anant Singh, the film is based on Nelson Mandela’s Autobiography ‘Long Walk To Freedom’ with the screenplay by William Nicholson and it is directed by Justin Chadwick.
